Boderra Joe

Gallup Alley

2023

Boderra Joe is a poet, journalist, and photographer from Bááhazł'ah (Twin Lakes), New Mexico, on the Navajo Nation. She is Diné of the Folded Arms Clan, born for the Water’s Edge Clan. She holds an MFA and BFA from the Institute of American Indian Arts. Her forthcoming book, Desert Teeth, will be published by Abalone Mountain Press in August 2022. She is the Program Coordinator at the Institute of American Indian Arts in the MFA Creative Writing Program. ARTIST STATEMENT: My photography is more of self-reflection and self-discovery. My process is to explore uncluttered areas and embrace the nature of its elements. Listening and observing are what I understand. Language and landscapes are what I bring out of my work as a poet and as a photographer. The two go together and visually, I hold onto a place where I feel the vibration, whether it’s lighting, colors, or an emotion. When returning to a familiar place, we are often flooded with memories. We feel what the landscape offers and continues to offer, those discovered emotions are what I cling to–they make me feel alive. Anaïs Nin said, “We don’t see things as they are, we see things as we are.” Oftentimes, we forget where we are and what nature presents itself. I believe photography reminds us just how beautiful nature is. We sometimes forget to look around and feel and understand. My photography grounds me because they tell stories. They allow me to be vulnerable and show where I come from: who I am and how I understand language and landscape.