Navajo artist's Auto-Immune Project

William R. Wilson:  Navajo Artist of the Post-Apocalypse

By Lisa Gale GarriguesA Navajo man in a gas mask stares into the camera, the land sprawling behind him in a luminous haze of post-apocalyptic beauty. The same man sleeps inside a hogan, on a mattress of light. Then the man, still in his gas mask in the hogan, works intently on his laptop.

These striking examples of visual storytelling are photographs from Navajo artist William R Wilson’s series “Auto-Immune Project.”

“The series is about this guy, who is played by me, who is this post-apocalyptic Navajo man just trying to figure out what happened, why the world is so toxic, so uninhabitable.” Wilson said.

With Native Arts and Culture Foundation funding, he will travel to Navajo country this summer and create photographs that document more of this post-apocalyptic Navajo man’s story. The journey will take Wilson to the four sacred mountains, as well as to energy resource extraction sites and coal firing plants.Comment:  For more on Navajo photography, see Navajo Photographs One Nation, One Year and Through the Lens: Diné Photographers.

Below:  William R. Wilson, Auto Immune Response #4.