SANTA FE, NM.- SITE SANTA FE launched its 2025 program with a solo exhibition by Dakota Mace. DAHODIYINII – Sacred Places is a rich, multimedia presentation of photography, weaving, beadwork, sound, and installation, drawing on the artist’s Diné heritage to explore the importance of Land to generational memory. Through her excavation of personal and local New Mexico history, the artist posits that a locus of sorrow can transform into a space for healing. As the recipient of the 2023 Ellsworth Kelly Award from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Mace’s ambitious exhibition—years in the making— references one of the most appalling episodes in American history: the US Army’s expulsion of the Diné people from their ancestral homeland, Dinétah, as an act of ethnic cleansing. DAHODIYINII – Sacred Places features over 2,000 newly commissioned cyanotypes (photograms made on light- sensitive paper) using natural cochineal dyes, alongside chemigrams, weavings, beadwork, and hides that demonstrate the breadth of her practice. Organized by Brandee Caoba, Curator, with Samantha Manion-Chavez, Curatorial Assistant, SITE SANTA FE’s exhibition unfolds in three interconnected narratives: Land, Stars, and Memory.

"DAHODIYINII – Sacred Places weaves together a constellation of stories—where Land, Stars, and Memory intersect,” Caoba says. “Stars immerses us in a Diné understanding of cosmology. Memory frames ancestral connections as a living archive through photographs and immersive sound. Land asserts itself through Dakota’s use of natural dyes, hides, and direct collaboration with the land itself in image-making.” Across these related sections, Mace grapples with complex histories surrounding Land rights, Indigenous rights, and the rights of nature.

By examining sacred places, the exhibition traces the history of Indigenous resilience through the lens of sovereignty and survival.

Coinciding with DAHODIYINII – Sacred Places is liná: Botanical Dye Garden, a community garden plot sowed with a diverse array of flowers and herbs used in the production of pigmented dyes. Local students and SITE SANTA FE’s visitors will have the opportunity to engage with the garden through guided tours, workshops, and demonstrations led by SITE's Creativity and Learning Department. These experiences will provide participants with insights into traditional dyeing techniques, hands-on practice with native botanical dyes, approaches to plant identification, and a deeper understanding of Mace's creative process.

Dakota Mace (Diné) (b. 1991) is an interdisciplinary artist who focuses on material translations of the language of Diné (Navajo) history and beliefs. Mace received her MA and MFA degrees in Photography and Textile Design from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and her BFA in Photography from the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe. Her interdisciplinary practice draws from her Diné heritage, exploring themes of family lineage, community, and identity. Her work expands the viewer's understanding of Diné culture through alternative photography techniques, weaving, beadwork, and papermaking. She is a faculty member in Studio Arts at IAIA and the photographer for the Helen Louise Allen Textile Center and the Center of Design and Material Culture in Madison.

Her work is in the collections of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY; Library of Congress, Washington, DC; Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY; Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, TX; Forge Project Collection, Taghkanic, NY; and the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, among others. She is represented by Bruce Silverstein Gallery in New York, NY.