Gallup “Drunktown, USA” by Maria Aragon
“Yes it is nothing but dirt, but I belong in that dirt.”
MARIA ARAGON: This body of work developed out of an inquiry into family and place, specifically, Gallup, New Mexico which has been home to my father’s family for many generations. Located on historic Route 66, Gallup is a border town to several Native American reservations, while also possessing a rich Hispanic tradition. Originally it grew as a railroad and coal mining town, while today it survives mainly as the commercial center to over 200,000 Native Americans on the neighboring reservations. It has astronomical crime and substance abuse rates, and has earned the nickname “Drunktown, USA” due to the huge population of vagrants and alcohol-related crimes and deaths. It is dusty, it can be dangerous, it is sometimes desolate, yet it holds a key in my heart and identity. I have lived in many places during my life, yet I have always returned to Gallup, as it remains unchanged and keeps changing. I began shooting this series while I was still living in France, and I believe it started the seed which would eventually lead me to move to the area in 2013, after almost ten years as an expatriate in France. When I think of Gallup, I think of words of a friend who once described her sense of home in the following way: “Yes it is nothing but dirt, but I belong in that dirt.” The images consist of portraits of family members, people from Gallup, as well as landscapes and cityscapes evoking the loneliness and restlessness of a border town. I often describe this place as “Twin Peaks with green chile and tumbleweeds” in order to capture its weirdness, its harshness, and its place in my psyche.
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Maria Aragon was born in New Mexico and studied painting and art history in Seattle at the University of Washington. In 2004, she undertook a nine-month course in Paris at Spéos Photographic Institute, which grew into over nine years living and working in France where she developed her work as a portrait and documentary photographer, while working as an assistant for fashion and commercial photographers. In 2013, she returned to America to teach art on the Zuni Pueblo in northwestern New Mexico. She currently teaches art to 450 young souls in the village of Los Lunas, New Mexico while continuing in her own work.