Long Walk Home Mural - Gallup, NM - Murals on Waymarking.com

A description of the mural by the artist in the Long Walk Home Mural
brochure.

From right to left, in the Navajo way, through areas of the four sacred colors.

Black: That's Mount Taylor, I didn't want to show every mountain. I did show all the important people that signed the Treaty. Below it's where they used to camp so I put that in a winter scenery to see what it's like when it's cold and there's no firewood. It must have been horrible. I read the Navajo caught a coyote and they did Coyote Ceremonial at Fort Sumner. So they were trying to see which way the coyote was going to go out. They formed a circle. The coyote went to the west, then they knew they were going to be released pretty soon. The sun symbol is shining down there with lightening on the edge striking the ground.

Blue: Here's a good looking warrior with all his regalia on, he's holding two rabbits. So you can see he's been hunting and maybe he'll have that for supper on the way home. The native on horseback is looking back to see what goes through his mind, about what happened. In the back there are soldiers escorting people moving from Fort Sumner. The kid is my great-great grandfather. He went there six years old and came back thirteen years old. The lady could be his sister or his aunt.

Yellow: This section is the Fort Wingate-Gallup area where they issued out the tools and animals. From there they finally moved out back to their homeland. You can see the covered wagon, horses, people getting ready to move back. Pyramid Rock and Church Rock in the background. There's a traditional hogan. Maybe people in there are cooking.

White: (the clouds suggest white) That's Canyon de Chelly (the Navajo homeland where the Long Walk to Fort Sumner began in 1864.) The rainbow, the eagle and that woman picking up corn pollen are a blessing and very spiritual. The rainbow goes all the way back to the other side so when you are doing that blessing the eagle can return back to the other side where they had the tragedy.

The whole mural is put together with the rainbow and tied together as a protection with the eagle as a guardian. You can see through the rainbow to the reflection of the canyon in the water. You could actually walk down there and just take your shoes off.

City: Gallup, NM Location Name: Law Office Artist: Richard K. Yazzie Date: 2005 Media: Paint on brick Relevant Web Site: [Web Link]

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Date Logged Log User Rating   03/21/2019 The Snowdog visited it