Bracelet c. 1950

This silver bracelet was made by a Navajo (Diné) artist, and resides at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. The texture of this piece is really something; it looks almost like the skin of a reptile, each little diamond shape a scale pressed into the metal. Up close, the surface seems less like a smooth, cold object and more like an organic form, something alive. It's a reminder that even metal, in the hands of an artist, can be transformed into something that feels both ancient and incredibly present. I’m reminded of Eva Hesse’s latex sculptures, the way she coaxed something unexpected and bodily out of industrial materials. This bracelet, like Hesse’s work, challenges our expectations of the medium and invites us to reconsider our relationship with the objects we create and adorn ourselves with. The meaning of art is never really fixed; it’s always in motion, changing with each new conversation.