At my son's gallery opening (earlier post) for the new look of the Southwest, there were a few pieces that had me enthralled. One was this coyote with a trail of plates behind him with maps of Northern Arizona and a pile of coyote poop on each plate. As you can imagine, more than a few times, people clinked against a plate when the gallery was crowded and the poop went flying. Watching the people debate over who would pick it up was pretty funny!
I loved this one photography exhibit a woman artist made. She stuck cactus needles into her flesh and took these shots. Absolutely mesmerizing. You've probably heard before my story about getting drunk in high school and streaking through an upscale neighborhood. When a car came and the headlights hit me--I tried to get out of the road and rolled down a hillside into a cactus garden--one of every kind! From head to foot I was literally coated in them--even in my gums and nails. Well, I learned about not mixing my alcohol and also learned what good friends I have because the girls sat up all night pulling needles out of my butt so I could soak in a tub and loosen the rest. Those pictures made me proud when people winced because I realized I had experienced much more torment than the artist and survived.
One artist photographed a cat caught in barbed wire in the desert and mummified. He also made pieces of art from found objects (something I hope to be doing in the very near future based in psychic reads of the objects).
So, yeah, the Southwest is rather spooky and I like it that way.