LEWIS deSOTO
Sweden. Tahualtapa, or “Hill of the Ravens” in Cahuilla, is a mountain located in the San Ber- nardino Valley. When the Spanish arrived in California, they called it Cerrito Solo or “Little Lonely Hill.” In the 1850s, American settlers extracted lime and marble from Tahualtapa and named it Marble Mountain. In 1891, the California Portland Cement Company used the mountain to mine limestone and cement rock. Currently, it is known as Mount Slover after Isaac Slover, a fur trader who died from a bear attack. The cement company still op- erates and extracts raw materials from the mountain. Before being significantly quarried, Tahualtapa was the tallest peak in the valley. For the Tahualtapa exhibit, deSoto includ-
A The first room was bare except for a
For the Tahualtapa installation, deSoto created a contemporary image of the hill with an aura showing its original height before the effects of mineral mining. He also placed concrete slabs in the installation represent- ing cement ingredients extracted from Tahualtapa. Collection of the Seattle Art Museum.
wooden table against a wall. Illuminated by a solitary spotlight, a map of the Cahuilla homeland rested on the table. As the light brightened, a transcription of the Tahquitz story appeared behind the map. Viewers entered another world in the second space. Bathed in blue light, two large chunks of ice sat on a long galvanized steel table. As they melted, the ice water dripped into ceramic vessels below the table. On opposite walls, monitors looped videos of the San Jacinto mountain range, one video in real time and the other in a time-lapse from dawn to dusk. Breaking the eerie sound of water dripping, Siva’s voice emerged, telling the Tahquitz story in Cahuilla. Six speakers were mounted throughout the room, allowing his voice to move about and surround the viewer. Through these two installations, deSoto
brilliantly demonstrates that Tahquitz is not just the name of a mountain peak but con- nects the place to its original namesake. Re- vealing the Native relationship to land, deSoto recovers stories that are just as relevant today.
30 AMERICAN INDIAN FALL 2012
ed photographs, maps and objects like blocks of marble and bags of cement in the space. In the center of the room he placed a model of the mountain surrounded by powdered ce- ment – a stark interpretation about the pres- ent function of the mountain. Through looking at one location over time,
deSoto uncovered its changing history. As he explains, “the names illustrate how cosmology signified what the earth was used for and how it is regarded by different peoples.” Existing as a nesting place for ravens, Tahualtapa became a commodity to be conquered and consumed. Settlers renamed it for their purposes, and it no longer resembles itself. Whether talking about Tahquitz or Tahual-
tapa, deSoto exposes buried cosmologies in the landscape. The Cahuilla have ancient stories about the southern California region, lost un- der the modern names. His art awakens viewers to look differently at the world. Familiar places in the landscape carry power. The land is a metaphor for what we value and dishonor. X
More information about deSoto and his artwork can be found at
LewisdeSoto.net.
Anya Montiel (Tohono O’odham/Mexican), a frequent contributor to American Indian, is a doctoral student at Yale University.
s early as the 1980s, deSoto looked at another southern California site with his Tahual- tapa Project, an installation at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm,
PHOTOS COURTESY OF LEWIS DESOTO
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