Pinacates: Invert it and we’re swimming again

February 22, 2010

The Pinacates is one of the most ferociously beautiful places on Earth – it is within the lands of the Tohono O’odham tribe.  It’s part of the gorgeous Sonoran Desert, just south of what is currently the Arizona-Mexico border but for thousands of years before colonialism were the open lands of the Papago or Tohono O’odham…the Aztec and the Navajo.

One of the hottest places on earth, it is a two million year old blackened landscape filled with volcanic peaks, lava flows, cinder cones, collapsed craters, and the stunning dune fields of Gran Desierto. The spine of the Sea of Cortes makes a surprising contrast to the volcanic terrain, and offers a promise of relief from the 130′ heat. It is a deep blue place to swim, other than the sky. Many have died on the rocks, dreaming that the sky was that healing sea.

Once upon a time, I worked to help set up domestic violence shelters on the Nation, and fell in love with the beauty of the terrain. Today, the slave trade runs right through the Pinacates – some women trafficked north or south as sex slaves escape in the desert (or are dumped there, injured or half-dead), and our shelter was designed to offer them a temporary safe haven.

Always, people would comment on how deeply frightening – indeed, horrifying – they found the Sonoran Desert. It seems many people consider the desert to be a rather savage place: it’s true, you can die there in an instant from exposure. But women die everywhere from blows to the head by their partners. That seems worse than a desert, to me.

When I worked near the Pinacates, many blamed the desert for violence, but were unable to blame men. That’s at the heart of this body of work. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about it.

These three pieces are part of a long-term series I’m working on about the intimacies of my relationship with Mexico…the next group of text-image prints concerns Guanajuato, which is also close to my heart.