Aspen Song

Taos Pueblo, New Mexico

 

“Calling The Spirits Home From Scorched Earth” | Sound & Light Installation

Aspen Song is coming to PASEO 2023. With their creative stylings, the Aspen Song crew will take over the back pavilion in Kit Carson park with scrims and tarps for surfaces to have a painted installation and light show like no other. Setting the stage for the PASEO 2023 Silent Disco, dance under the stars and within the magical renderings of this local youth art team.

This year, Aspen Song is collaborating with Missing and Murdered Indigenous People:

 “As an organization which advocates for the justice and prosperity of Indigenous people, we always want to invest in our children and support indigenous youth who are just beginning the lifelong journey to fight for our people and make a better world. The Aspen Song Kids from Taos Pueblo are doing just that with their art exhibit for the Paseo Project art festival in Taos, New Mexico in September of 2023.

      Telling the stories of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People begins with telling the stories of the brutal colonization that our tribal nations were subjected to. Kit Carson's Scorched Earth policy was one of those many brutal efforts by the United States government to colonize indigenous people. Diné women, men and children were all subjected to heinous violence. Their relationship with the land was severed in the destruction of their crops and removal from the land. Many women were abused significantly, and many of them disappeared without a trace. The efforts of the Aspen Song Kids to utilize art to share the story of those people lost, both in the past and present, is one that we honor. Our indigenous children, including the children who live at Taos Pueblo, are affected by the generational traumas that are rooted in colonial violence, and we commend them for using their voices. We wish to amplify the voices of our youth and we support their creativity and their activism. We honor them for their bravery in telling these stories and ability to create beauty all around them.”

About the artist: 

We are the Aspen Song Kids from Taos Pueblo, a beautiful place in Northern New Mexico.

Our mission is to preserve our culture, our heritage, our tradition, and our language. We do that through our art.

We give our thanks to our elders and our ancestors.

Our grandparents and great-grandparents were artists.

If it were not for their hard work, we would not be here today. We carry on their legacy.

We give thanks to the artists who came before.

We get our name, Aspen Song Kids, from our great-great grandfather whose name was Aspen Song.

We didn’t know him in person as he had passed away before we were born, yet, we honor him with our name.

Everyday, after school and on the weekends, we walk from the day school to the Pueblo village where we practice our art and practice speaking Tiwa, our native language.

We love learning from the elders about the old ways so we may carry on the knowledge to our children and grandchildren in the years to come.

We are proud to share our art and to honor Taos Pueblo.

— Aspen Song Kids