Gochman Family Collection

Tyrrell Tapaha (Diné) is a 6th-generation weaver and mixed fiber artist based in the Four Corners Region of Diné Bikeyah (The Navajo Nation). A full-time sheep herder, Tapaha’s artistic practice is grounded in his relationship to his flock, the conditions of whom inform the quality and character of his weavings.
By shearing, processing, dying, and spinning wool by hand with all-natural regional materials, the artist honors ancestral tradition, producing weavings that carry stories of both the animals and the artist at every stage of the process, from the sheep to the loom. With strong attention paid to the documentary nature of weaving, Tapaha creates new possibilities within the art form by combining the customs of pastoral living with an irreverent narrative style and cutting commentary on current issues. “I use archaic tools to make contemporary stories.”
Best known for his pictorial weavings, the artist recontextualizes the representational mode by transgressing standard compositional conventions, interspersing abstract atmospheric layers, and imposing text in both English and Diné bizaad. By rendering these speculative environments, the artist’s personal narrative can grow in both subtle and extreme capacities. Tapaha’s approach upends antiquated conceptions of weaving, instead forming new models in which textiles can function as both concrete records of history and agents to collapse time.
This work, titled ‘I’ll be your mirror’ is one of Tapaha’s many takes on a self-portrait. “It showcases the tools I use on the daily that make my work possible. Most of the tools were inherited, made, and used by my great-grandmothers. Both the tools and practice that were eventually passed down to me. My tools that l included are my battens (long sticks used in weaving), weaving combs, spindles, medication bottle, a Nalgene, a sharpie, a notebook, a Fuji film disposable camera, my phone with earphones, and a toy figurine named Tim.”

~I’ll be your mirror, 2024. Hand-spun vegetal-dyed Navajo Churro wool and mohair, 57 × 27 inches

caption: Moonoka Begay