Ryle Yazzie is a Dine artist, a veteran, and currently a graduate student at the Institute of American Indian Arts. Native Genes, Summer 2025 catalogs a pop-up art installation of used jeans sourced from the Navajo Reservation and from local flea markets in Window Rock, Shiprock, Gallup and Yah-Ta-hey areas. As part of the work, Yazzie took a series of self-portraits of himself wearing the jeans–sometimes too big and sometimes just right–and documents the stories of hardship and determination told through the fabrics wearing and natural patina. Putting the used jeans in conversation with himself and in the context of a high-art photo catalog, the book asks the viewer to consider our obsession with authenticity, along with the age-old question; what makes something the real deal, or just a knockoff. This catalog was inspired by James Luna’s performance “Take a picture with a Real Indian”.
Native Genes by Ryle Yazzie. Authentically American* before America.
Ryle Yazzie is a Native American photographer based out of Albuquerque, NM. His roots stem from the Navajo Nation of which he is a tribal member. Ryle has a Digital Filmmaking Bachelor of Arts from New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, New Mexico and is in the Masters of Fine Arts program at the Institute of American Indian Arts. He started shooting medium format film in 2012 while living in the Middle East. At the same time, Ryle started his film industry career working on the “Awaken” movie, a multi-year project that spanned multiple countries. He has since moved back to New Mexico and has been working as a Set Lighting technician and photographer for the past 9 years. His photographs have been included in ABQ the Mag and New Mexico Magazine. He continues to shoot analog film as a means to archive daily life and culture.
Ryle Yazzie is a Dine artist, a veteran, and currently a graduate student at the Institute of American Indian Arts. Native Genes, Summer 2025 catalogs a pop-up art installation of used jeans sourced from the Navajo Reservation and from local flea markets in Window Rock, Shiprock, Gallup and Yah-Ta-hey areas. As part of the work, Yazzie took a series of self-portraits of himself wearing the jeans–sometimes too big and sometimes just right–and documents the stories of hardship and determination told through the fabrics wearing and natural patina. Putting the used jeans in conversation with himself and in the context of a high-art photo catalog, the book asks the viewer to consider our obsession with authenticity, along with the age-old question; what makes something the real deal, or just a knockoff. This catalog was inspired by James Luna’s performance “Take a picture with a Real Indian”.
Native Genes by Ryle Yazzie. Authentically American* before America.
Ryle Yazzie is a Native American photographer based out of Albuquerque, NM. His roots stem from the Navajo Nation of which he is a tribal member. Ryle has a Digital Filmmaking Bachelor of Arts from New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, New Mexico and is in the Masters of Fine Arts program at the Institute of American Indian Arts. He started shooting medium format film in 2012 while living in the Middle East. At the same time, Ryle started his film industry career working on the “Awaken” movie, a multi-year project that spanned multiple countries. He has since moved back to New Mexico and has been working as a Set Lighting technician and photographer for the past 9 years. His photographs have been included in ABQ the Mag and New Mexico Magazine. He continues to shoot analog film as a means to archive daily life and culture.
