Artist Statement

My name is Cherille Williams, and as a Native person, my work focuses on my relationship with the land and cultural heritage of my fellow Native people, whose stories cover the vast landscape in New Mexico that is untouched or unseen by an outside perspective. I primarily use photography to show the long-lasting scars on the landscape, such as towns, gas stations, hotels, schools, and natural resources used for land development that often leave abandoned buildings and their histories. My work also touches on identity and self-worth, dealing with childhood trauma connected to seeing myself as an object. Like a ceiling fan whose only use was to be a support system for a group of toxic individuals who abandoned a broken home and left me to learn to heal from generational trauma. This experience led to an interest in photographing people of different ages with different experiences and perspectives that are overlooked or ignored. Much like the land, each one has a story. Every living being has a voice that echoes in the roots of my work. As a Dinè woman, I know that it is essential to share one’s voice, and I do that through my work.