Painting the Cosmos: Metaphor and Worldview in Images from the Southwest Pueblos and Mexico

Painting the Cosmos presents current research on nearly two thousand years of ancestral Hopi painting and the values expressed in the imagery, settings, and performance contexts of paintings on kiva walls and pottery vessels. Nine essays show how continuity in Hopi values, such as reciprocity, humility, and hard work are expressed metaphorically in art, song, ritual activities, daily tasks, and visual arts. Many fundamentals of Hopi iconography (the study of images) are held in common with other Pueblos in New Mexico, with indigenous cultures of northwest Mexico, and with ancient Mesoamerican civilizations. In this region, histories, aesthetics, and values have common roots that are explored here through verbal and visual metaphors, past and present. This volume is richly illustrated in full color. Authors include Kelley Hays-Gilpin, Delbridge Honanie, Michael Kabotie, Lawrence Loendorf, Elizabeth Newsome, Polly Schaafsma, Emory Sekaquaptewa, Karl Taube, and Dorothy Washburn.