← Woo Woo with Rachel Dratch
Woo Woo with Rachel Dratch
Cara Romero: Ancestral Spirit Through a Modern Lens
00:56:31
Artist and maker Cara Romero shares her journey – from childhood spent in the Chemehuevi reservation in the Mojave Desert, to acclaimed photographer with exhibits worldwide. Discover her artistic inspirations, her connection to the supernatural, and how her work creatively tackles themes like indigenous representation and cultural resilience. Plus, Penjy weighs in on the cosmos!
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- [00:00]
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- [00:22]
Cara Romero
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- [00:39]
Sponsor Voice 1
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- [00:54]
Rachel Dratch
Welcome to Woo Woo with Rachel Dratch, the podcast that explores the unexplained with humor and curiosity. Hello, and welcome to Woo Woo with Rachel Dratch, here with Irene Bremes. Hi, Irene.
- [01:12]
Cara Romero
Hello, Rachi.
- [01:13]
Rachel Dratch
Hello, Irene. We're really excited today because occasionally we get an artist on the show to talk about creative inspiration and really excited to be joined by a photographer whose work I happen to see. I did have the privilege of seeing her work in a museum, and some of the things, the themes that were discussed made me think maybe she'd be a good guest to have on the show. So she was kind enough to join us. Please welcome Cara Romero here. Hi, Kara.
- [01:47]
Irene Bremes
Hi, Kara.
- [01:48]
Cara Romero
Hi, Rachel. Hi, Irene. Thank you for having me.
- [01:51]
Rachel Dratch
Hi. And where do you live right now? Where are you located?
- [01:55]
Cara Romero
I live in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
- [01:57]
Rachel Dratch
That's what I thought. And you have a gallery there, too, is that correct?
- [02:02]
Cara Romero
I have a gallery and a photography studio that are all connected in downtown Santa Fe. And so I have the joy of coming down here to work every day.
- [02:12]
Rachel Dratch
Ooh, that sounds lovely. Well, we're coming to you from New York City, and as I mentioned, so we have a connection sort of to Dartmouth College. Right. And that's where I saw your work at the Hood Museum there. We were on this sort of guided special tour there, and I was blown away by your photos. So, yeah, that's how I got introduced to your work. But your work shows all over the country and the world, and basically you do strictly photography. Is that correct?
- [02:48]
Cara Romero
I've always been a maker, but I'm really known for photography, and that is the craft that I honed for, really, the last 20 years. 20, 25 years.
- [02:58]
Rachel Dratch
Right. So I was wondering, just to get started, like, how you got involved in being an artist. Like, we've had a few artists on here. I mean, just to give you some context for the show, sometimes we're talking about like ghosts in haunted houses and other times like, you know, self actualizing experiences. But then also we've been lucky enough to have some artists and we talk about, you know, manifesting creativity, what brings you inspiration, all that stuff. But I was wondering just to start with, sometimes we talk about how you were drawn to photography, to art, and your path to get you where you are today, just for starters.
- [03:38]
Cara Romero (continued)
Sure.
- [03:38]
Cara Romero
So I would say I was always the kid artist. It was always something that was like a best friend to me as a little person. You know, I'm Gen X and you know, we filled up our spare time with drawing sidewalk chalk. And I come from a really small community out in the Mojave Desert of it's Chimwavi Valley Indian Reservation and it's a community of makers. So we grew up beating basket weaving, learning really, really old stuff that's been passed down through multiple generations. And then I entered public school and was still just always interested in making things beautiful. I feel like I kind of stumbled into photography. It wasn't a path that was encouraged or promoted as like a career. And it really came from a place of love and inspiration. I stumbled into the dark room in 1997 at the University of Houston and had one of those professors that changed my life that really emphasized content and narrative over technical ability. And so I was all about like, what can you say through art and what can you say through a photograph? And really understood the power of that early on. And I just did what 21 year olds do and I ran off to art school in Santa Fe.
- [05:13]
Rachel Dratch
Oh wow.
- [05:14]
Cara Romero
And continued to hone the technical side of things. So I think I'm a little bit more right brained. So the technical maybe took a little bit longer, but it was really just a pursuit of happiness. It brings me joy. It's like a source of lifelong learning and nerding out, I guess, on the technical side of things. And for me, I'm not a writer and I do think a picture is worth a thousand words. And I've been able to, you know, layer ideas and time and personal reference through the medium in a way that just kind of makes my heart sing.
- [06:01]
Rachel Dratch
And then how, as you were developing your art, how did it start to become your career? Like how did it blossom for you? Sort of.
- [06:13]
Cara Romero
I think today it's taken me further than I ever imagined. So I don't think I really set out with an idea that this was going to work out. It was more like the, you know, why do artists become artists? Maybe because they can't do anything else. Maybe they're just really passionate about following their heart and not necessarily like logic. So I feel lucky, I guess, is what I'm trying to say. That and I do think in hindsight that it's such a worthwhile pursuit, I stuck with it. I kept making art. And just like anything, you get better, you mature, your voice gets better, you get better at what you do. You're all of a sudden, you know, from emerging and beginner to having this like, really high craft and high skill. I feel like once you get to the high craft of what you do, then you can have audience. You know, it's like there's something that harnesses people. And if you're trying to get a message across, even if it's just, you know, I want to tell people who I am or maybe this experience that I've had, that high craft that you stayed with, you know, helps to communicate cross culturally across language barriers. Art is really powerful that way. And I entered Santa Fe Indian market starting in 2005. It's the biggest Native American art show in the country. It takes place here in Santa Fe. It's kind of like an open air arts and crafts with an emphasis on fine arts of Native America. There's like thousands of us that show up in Santa Fe. I did that show and also the herd market in Phoenix. They're spaced out about six months from each other. And so I was really just making art kind of for my own community. And there's a lot of museums, a lot of curators, a lot of international art collectors that come with an interest in our narrative, with an interest in our history and our contemporary art as well. And my career is really built out of this unique corner of the universe here in Santa Fe. It's home to the Institute of American Indian Arts, which is the only tribal arts college for formal fine art making. And I don't know how it took me so far, but I think, you know, there's been a great awakening in America and in American art that Native Americans are part of the fabric of America. Black Americans, Latin American, Asian Americans. And so this has really been in my lifetime, I would say in the last 10 years that it seemed to like, shatter all those glass ceilings. So I'd say starting out, I didn't think it wasn't even a possibility that it would go this far. And here we are.
- [09:31]
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- [09:37]
Rachel Dratch
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- [10:08]
Rachel Dratch
On a toilet seat?
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- [11:35]
Cara Romero (continued)
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- [12:06]
Rachel Dratch
Well, I was really moved by the I'm sure when you started, you started, you know, seeing a subject taking a photo, but you really stage moments in these photos. At least in the exhibit I saw. I don't know if you always do that or. And then there were some photos. Oh, my gosh. Just like the pictures of your kids were. I mean, I could just, like, cry thinking about the pictures of your kids. They were just so beautiful and told a story. But also, just for you, like, it's a picture of your kid. Like, those were amazing. But also, like your TV Indians exhibit. I don't know if you want to talk about that or the. I mean, I'm just speaking of a slice of your work, of what I saw. But also the ones with the. Well, it was mostly women, but a few guys, I guess. But when those giant framed pictures of people in their indigenous regalia. Yeah, regalia. Yeah. Those were just so striking. I don't know if you want to talk about those. Just as a little slice of your work.
- [13:12]
Sponsor Voice 1
Sure.
- [13:13]
Cara Romero
So you're right. I began staging and making more theatrical work. I think it's interesting. It's kind of when I became a mom. And so there's so many ways to approach photography. Um, like, there's, you know, certainly photo documentary and photo essays and photojournalism. And I really found myself as a young mom in the early 2000s, like, not able to do that. Like, not able to just disappear and walk around and, you know, maybe go on a photo essay or a safari. And I didn't know what the future held. But I do know that as artists, if you're not making, you're kind of, like, deadening spiritually, you know, so, like, you have to make and be creative in order to be healthy. And I really was interested, even in the very beginning, in staging moments. I felt like it was a way to build story in, like, one moment. What could be going on in the photograph? And when you start asking those questions as you're making, it gets really fun. And you can really lean into ideas like dreamscape your own weird subconscious. And then when you're, like, tapping into your own subconscious, you know, wondering where the ideas come from, I think you're tapping into other people's, you know, subconscious as well. Like, we are all bringing our own experiences to art. TV Indians really started in kind of a. A mind's eye. Like, sometimes a graphic will show up, and I'll be like, that's going to be so interesting visually. What could it possibly mean? And so I'll try and work towards narrative around this idea of new ruins in the landscape was what I was thinking in the very beginning. I was thinking about our consumerism. I was thinking about TVs. I was thinking about historical ruins in the landscape. And then I had this idea to stack TVs, kind of like ruins in the landscape. And, you know, one of the things that we talk about in community a lot is representation. Representation in academia, representation in Hollywood in media. And we have all of these really important dialogues, like within our communities and within our household. But it was an opportunity to kind of take those conversations that are somewhat absurd and put them in a photograph. Right? So you have friends and family, inter tribal Puebloan people, standing in front of about 40 TVs in a staged landscape and on the TVs is how they're represented in Hollywood and media somewhat beloved, but problematic, you know, the representations and then what they look like in real life. And then you can just have fun with the dreamscape, right? You can make all kinds of connections about how different those two things are. Like the juxtaposition, what's going on in the TVs, ideas of ruins in the landscape. And I really like to leave interpretation a little more open because that's what art is about, you know, and it's important for me, just like, do people walk away thinking about something that they might not have ever thought about? With the first American doll boxes that I think you're referencing?
- [17:04]
Rachel Dratch
Yes, yes.
- [17:05]
Cara Romero
That one really started out. My husband, he's also an amazing artist, and he comes from a family of collectors of doll collectors, of toy collectors, comic book colle. Our daughter was 11. She's Native American. This was in 2015 when that series started. And there was just really no pop cultural toy reference for her identity. And I really thought about how we are represented in pop culture. So your mind can kind of go to like Native American Halloween costumes, Native American dolls in the truck stops on I40 in the southwest. All really disappointing. All really, like, not historically accurate, not beloved, not representing our high fashion, our regalia, our arts, making like, you know, just this amazing culture of America that's been around since, you know, before the United States. And so I wanted to make a series of dolls with real life people. So we made the doll boxes and then we put all of that love into acc. Into highlighting the incredible regalia that, you know, our whole communities invest in rigging people out, you know, so five family members will be the whole outfit for a powwow dancer. We will gather things for our children over years and years. That is like an acquisition of wealth in a way, to be able to put them out into ceremony so that they can dance, you know, so there's so much bundled up in those doll bo that are like intergenerational love but also for the non native person or cross cultural community member, you can really quickly counter ideas of one story, narrative or pan Indianism. We don't all look alike, we don't all dress alike. Our design work is different. Our regalia emerges from our different bioregions. And so this is like fun and beautiful and resilient and like a moment where people can learn really quickly through a photograph what it would take a really long time to write about.
- [19:29]
Rachel Dratch
And I remember there was something too about the frames, wasn't there? Something about like we actually built the.
- [19:35]
Cara Romero
Life size doll boxes and then kind of graphic designed the doll boxes with the collaborator. So the person that's in it is choosing graphic design and like tribal vernacular around them that is true to who they are, where they come from, you know, so designs that have been passed down a long time, very specific to community. The Hawaiian ones were kapa bark designs. So they actually paint, they pound kappa and they paint on it these designs for hundreds of years. And so these are one as a historical and one as a contemporary. And the young people that are in the photograph chose those designs themselves. So there's like kind of this editorial, individual nature for each of the photographs.
- [20:31]
Rachel Dratch
I'm sure I'm covering like one tiny little slice of your work, but that's just what I saw just to share with our listeners, like little bits and pieces of your vast array of work. I'm sure.
- [20:48]
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- [22:54]
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- [23:27]
Rachel Dratch
There was one piece in the hood anyway that was almost like outer space. Like he walked into this room and there was like neon colors and sort of interplanetary vibes. And I was like, oh well, what inspired this? Because it was so different from the other stuff in there.
- [23:45]
Cara Romero
So indigenous futurism emerges about 10, 15 years ago alongside other marginalized communities. And I think it's this idea that, you know, in my lifetime, which is post civil rights movement, so much of the movement, the civil rights movement through art and through frontline activists, is about acknowledgment of our existence, that we're not a vanished race, that we are still here, is the mantra of the American Indian movement, that we deserve equal rights. This movement and the arts emerges in marginalized communities. That's about imagining ourselves in the future. That's a lot to unpack. This is the first time our communities are imagining themselves in the future as opposed to just like the exclamation that we're here, you know, that we're living people that our cultures are thriving and flourishing. And so some of the stuff that gets thrown around is like speculative futurism. So this gets like, kind of campy and sci fi. Like we all grew up watching the same stuff, you know, of this speculative futurism. So you have like the quintessential green girl, but it's been indigenized. And you have blue girls, but it's been indigenized. For me, one of the things that we talk about is how Native people have already been through apocalypse, right? We've already seen destruction of culture, destruction of worlds, destruction of traditional government. And so we've survived. We talk about our survivance and our resilience in the future. I really wanted to promote this idea of indigenous science. We have Western science that's very technologically based. How fast is our AI going to be our transportation, our broadband speeds, our satellites? But for Native people, it's really rooted in ecosystem and interdependence and like growing corn and passing down traditional painting. And so it may seem very undervalued, but really, as human beings, if we're not able to grow heirloom corn anymore, we're in a lot of trouble. So each of the pieces, while it's fun and they're sci fi, it's really about promoting the original instructions, the first sciences of place that we as human beings have to promote the healthy ecology that we inherited. And if we continue to dominate and destruct, then we end up with things like climate change and we end up in a lot of peril and trouble.
- [26:54]
Sponsor Voice 1
Right.
- [26:56]
Rachel Dratch
Well, now I understand. All those corn cobs hanging from the.
- [26:59]
Cara Romero
Ceiling, the futuristic seed banks.
- [27:05]
Rachel Dratch
Okay, yeah, there was corn hanging from the ceiling as if floating in space. Like a ton of these corn ears.
- [27:13]
Sponsor Voice 1
Yeah.
- [27:14]
Rachel Dratch
Okay. I love getting the intellectual discussion behind it as opposed to Rachel walking in, like, look at the corn. You know, so that's.
- [27:22]
Cara Romero
It's supposed to do that too.
- [27:25]
Rachel Dratch
It's beautiful. Irene, you were gonna say something.
- [27:28]
Irene Bremes
You know, I was just gonna say that one of the things that I loved looking at your photographs was the fact that you. I like that. The crux of the photographs, from my perception, when I watched this, it evoked this feeling of like, your ancestors are always with you through time travel. Like you're always the same person in a contemporary setting, but there's this deep, valued love and fervent respect for your ancestors, even in a contemporary setting. And that's really what I got when I saw these amazing futuristic. The futuristic that you guys are talking About. And then there was another one where, you know, even something subtle like somebody in the regalia with sunglasses on, or it could be very subtle. But I really love that because sometimes we forget who we are and where we come from, and people think, well, you've changed. No, we are always. The crux of who we are is always in our soul, and it travels with us despite the time or where we're living or the time that we're living in.
- [28:36]
Cara Romero
Yeah, I really agree. I think worldview, we do bring our ancestors with us, and they're all around us experiencing our joys, our losses, our changes in the landscape. I think, especially as Native kids, when we have experienced this idea that our culture is gone or that, you know, ways of past have vanished, I think culture is allowed to be ever changing, but we keep things that are permanent as well. Like, our cultures thrive on the permanence of things that are super important to us spiritually. And I think that we're protectors of those things. And it's also very important to me through the art that young Native kids, I think, are my primary audience. You know, like, I make art that I wanted to see that made me feel seen, you know, that would make me feel seen as a young person. We have all of that old stuff that we bring through time and we protect, but we also wear Chucks and sunglasses and, you know, have ipod phones, you know, and it's okay to be both, right? And I think it's most important to protect the things that we've inherited from our ancestors. And I think if everybody was really conscientious that all of those spirits are in our landscape, experiencing all the things that we do, we might be in a better place. Right? If. If we really believed in the spirit of the landscape and all of those people that are here around us.
- [30:35]
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- [30:51]
Rachel Dratch
I'm paying about 50 bucks a month for this thing.
- [30:53]
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- [32:15]
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- [32:50]
Rachel Dratch
In terms of the woo Woo of it all, if you've ever had like, an inspiration, I don't know, like a dream or some sort of. Was there a piece you've done that was like a bolt from the blue? Like, oh my gosh, here's the vision. It just, like drops into your mind. I mean, I don't know how often that happens. I know with sketch comedy, if I may be so bold as to compare, but I know with like, sketch, sometimes, like the best ideas just like jump into your head and they don't take any effort. Like, the ones you're gnashing your teeth over aren't the ones that work. I don't know how it works in terms of visual art, but have you ever had like a woo Woo inspiration?
- [33:29]
Cara Romero
I would say that it's the same even like what you're talking about first sketch. And I think maybe as artists, we're talking about our muse, right? Like, how do we wield this magic on demand? We never know where it's going to come from, you know? Like, I think it's really important to be still and to think and to read and to do things that you're interested in and to play, it seems like when you're doing all of those things that are, you know, feeding your spirit, you know, that's typically when the ideas are. Are going to come out of nowhere. I have kind of the same thing. Like, I think if something lands, like, always thinking about ideas, but if something lands and I find myself still thinking about it and still interested, then, like, you gotta fan those embers. And I've learned to, like, stay with the idea all the way through the making. If you put it aside or write it in a notebook and never come back to it, it seems like it just kind of, like, the embers die out. But if you fan those flames, you're calling it all in. Are the people going to be there for you? Can you come up with the stage theatrics? What about the color? And so it seems like there's some kind of creative flow that starts happening where you are kind of like, channeling as an artist. You're creating space. I think a lot of us look back at maybe something incredible that we've made, and we're like, wow, I can't even believe I was part of that. And I do think we're just creating space for art that wants to happen. And if you can continue to get good at holding space and not being in control over it and remembering to be creative and improvisational and open to, you know, whatever that magic that's happening is, to be vulnerable, to be true to yourself, then I feel like there's something that can happen and it doesn't happen every time, you know, but you have to continue writing the songs to get to those ones that, like, strike a chord between humanity that has an emotional effect on you. When you see a photograph of my daughter, you know, like, it's like you have to take the time to lean into the weird, to fan the flames of the idea, whether you know what that's about or you don't know what that's about, and then take it all the way and then look back, and it's about the process, you know, I think a lot of the magic is about holding space for the process. I think when you're young, I mean, I don't know about everybody, but when I was young, that was really scary. I cared way too much about what people thought, you know, about my ideas, about my art, about myself. And then I think, you know, we can get to a point where one of my elders was talking to me about dancing back home. Her name was Willetta Wilder. She's walked on now. And this is maybe my existential moment that stuck with me the rest of my life comes a lot from the teachers back home. But she was talking about how dancing is between you and creator and nobody else. And so, like, if you're called to dance, then you are having a moment with something much bigger than yourself. And what's happening here on this earth is not important. And so for me, I kind of, like, take that when it comes to art making. Like, you don't have to understand everything, but you're having a deep connection to something bigger than yourself, and that's more important than what anybody thinks. And that's my woo.
- [37:33]
Sponsor Voice 1
Woo.
- [37:34]
Rachel Dratch
Ooh, I love that. That's my woo. No, I love that. That is such a good reminder.
- [37:41]
Irene Bremes
I loved when I was reading something about when you create your work that you always kind of coincide with the supernatural, coincides with us at all times. And I really love that. I really, really love that. That they coexist, you know, so that was beautiful, too.
- [37:59]
Cara Romero
I was really inspired as a young person by the writing of Luis Erdrich. She wrote Love Medicine, and she wrote tracts and, you know, several others and has won multiple awards. But when I was young, I was, you know, back in the days of the bookstore, and she had characters that could control the wind. And, you know, we grew up with stories like, you know, world culture grows up with stories, you know, whether they're fabled tricksters or mythos, where they're teaching you how to be a good person, right? They're teaching you maybe how the world was created or how to be a good person. Or, you know, we're supposed to be, you know, taking something from these stories, but there's often supernatural involved. And that for me is kind of like a belief, you know, like a extra special, you know, the esp, the supernatural. You know, it can be anything. It can be our power of prayer. It can be something that maybe is in our imagination. But when you put it in the art, it's like a reminder of those stories, you know, about maybe the little things that are reminders that came from a long time ago. And I think that we do have, like, medicine as human beings. And I think certainly as Native American people, we talk about supernatural, we believe in supernatural. And so why not put it in the art? You know, this is something that we share around the world. And so I remember reading her books as a young person and thinking, I understand that. You know, you don't have to explain to me why this woman is so powerful. She can control the wind, you know, like like, women are powerful and so, like you could do that through art and you can, you can exclaim something visually that I think people understand psychologically.
- [40:15]
Rachel Dratch
So little shift here because I read that you did a panel recently about using humor as rebellion. Did I see that on your website? I wanted to hear about that.
- [40:29]
Cara Romero
Yeah. One of the things that we say around the house is how humor is medicine. And I think what you do is really important. I know you are saying about silly sketch, but. But truly, like, you know, to be able to laugh is cross cultural. It is beyond language. It's kind of like the unknowable. And I think when people are in pain, you know, when people are experiencing the absurd, the, you know, the unspeakable, you have tools like satire, you know, where you can really effectively create a sense of belonging, of like minded. Like, if we can laugh at this absurdity, I think that that's really healing and important. And then we can also, like, in this really unarmed way, point out the inappropriateness of people's behavior, you know, and we need certainly more of that during these times.
- [41:38]
Progressive Insurance Announcer
Yes.
- [41:39]
Cara Romero
But in our communities also, like, you know, we can point out the absurdities of stereotyping native people through humor. You know, we have our own sense of humor that, you know, maybe only our communities get, but when you're expressing those through art or skit or tv, I don't think they need so much explanation. I think, you know, as humans, you either get it or if you don't get the joke, you want to get it. And so then it's important, important too, you know. So I think humor is an incredible vehicle to create understanding for people's humanity and really point out bad behavior too, in ourselves and in other people. It's like it's part of the human experience, an important part of the human experience.
- [42:35]
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- [44:14]
Rachel Dratch
So you just got to do. Was there like some sort of panel or something with other people? Like what was that thing?
- [44:23]
Cara Romero
Yeah, so it was called Reservation for Wit and humor and Contemporary Native Art. That was a big mouthful. But it was a group show, a group exhibit of artists that have walked on Native artists. It was all native centric and contemporary artists that were using quirkiness, irony, satire, even some puns and things like that in their artwork and in their expressions. And so it was a themed exhibit that happened here in Santa Fe. And I was on a panel with some other amazing artists and we were talking about that use of humor in our art to, you know, heal, to act as medicine, to point out absurdities that we experience, you know, that other people inflict upon us. And that was what that was about.
- [45:21]
Rachel Dratch
Okay. I just got to do this pilot for NBC and it did not get picked up, sadly, but it was Native American, basically a sitcom. And it was all like written by, acted by. I was like the only non native person in the whole cast. It was so cool. And it didn't get picked up. Unfortunately.
- [45:41]
Cara Romero
We are kind of an experience like a renaissance of new film and new media happening. There have been like movies and episodes throughout my life that have been life changing. Like smoke signals came out in the 90s and more recently reservation dogs. I mean, we come from these, these like wild, unbelievable, isolated communities, you know, right here in our own backyard in the United States that, you know, don't make the headlines that are, you know, somewhat misunderstood but so rich in culture and humor and a wealth of content. Right. So I love all the stuff that that is getting picked up in Hollywood.
- [46:29]
Cara Romero (continued)
Yeah.
- [46:30]
Rachel Dratch
So just for our listeners, like, where can people see your right now? I guess they can go to Your website, your gallery's in Santa Fe, but your website shows your current exhibits? I guess, yeah.
- [46:41]
Cara Romero
So I have a gallery here in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and a website, it's cararomero.com and then the show that you saw at the Hood Museum is called Panapu Nuwugai, which is a Chemoevi word for living light. It's a survey of about 14 years of work, and that's opening at the Phoenix Art Museum in February of 2026, which is a big deal. It's the closest major art museum to my reservation, which is right on the border of California and Arizona. And it's gonna travel from there to Jacksonville Museum of Contemporary Art the year after, and then maybe one more spot. I'm not allowed to say yet, but okay, I would definitely come experience that.
- [47:34]
Rachel Dratch
Yes. I'm gonna give it like 10,000 thumbs up if you're in Phoenix or even I would even say make a trip of it. It was so beautiful and thought provoking and just like nothing I've seen before. So go to Phoenix in February and beyond and of course, your gallery in Santa Fe and check Kara's website. Do you have any other questions?
- [47:59]
Cara Romero
No.
- [47:59]
Irene Bremes
I mean, this has been so amazing. And actually the photograph that I couldn't think of that I really. That was really just so simple, was a woman in the regalia and a plane in the background. I absolutely loved that. I thought it was just so amazing because it's like you said, a picture speaks a thousand words. It says so much in that one shot. It's just brilliant. It says ancestor contemporary. We're here, we're infinite, we're eternal. It's just amazing. I loved it. I loved it. I love your work. And I love. And I love how you explain why you do your work. It really touches my heart. It touches our hearts.
- [48:39]
Rachel Dratch
And I'm gonna say, like, we were a little nervous as to, like, you know, art, whatever novices. I mean, we get our share of culture, don't get me wrong. But I mean, it's not like I sit and talk about art. I don't have necessarily the language to talk about art. So I really appreciated your explanations and. And just hearing the background of what creates the art that you create.
- [49:03]
Irene Bremes
Agreed, Agreed. It's just so beautiful. And it just reminds us, you know, like, there's this deep essence that's cultural that has been with us before we were born and will continue to be with us when we. And I love this. I'm getting a little bit of chills here. Walk On. Because I love the way you continue to say walk on. I love this, that, and we walk on.
- [49:26]
Cara Romero
Well, I admire both of you as artists, and I was more nervous for this podcast than any podcast I've ever been on. So I'm just fangirling majorly over here, and I'm so excited to have been in the same little studio with you and get to see you and talk to you, and it's a big deal. Aw, thank you.
- [49:52]
Rachel Dratch
That's so sweet. It is really sweet.
- [49:54]
Sponsor Voice 1
Yeah.
- [49:54]
Rachel Dratch
But now this is. Now, to bring it to a screeching.
- [49:57]
Irene Bremes
Halt, let's bring out the pendulum.
- [49:58]
Rachel Dratch
We do this pendulum reading. I don't know if you know this, where you ask a yes or no question, but if you would like to participate, we say to people, don't ask anything that's gonna make you sad if you don't like the answer. But the pendulum gives a yes or no. It swings one way for yes and one way for no.
- [50:15]
Irene Bremes
Here we go.
- [50:15]
Cara Romero
Ready?
- [50:15]
Rachel Dratch
Okay.
- [50:16]
Irene Bremes
Are you thinking about.
- [50:18]
Cara Romero
Yes.
- [50:18]
Sponsor Voice 1
Okay.
- [50:20]
Irene Bremes
Oh, there's no question, sweetie. It went. It went immediately. I mean, this is a resounding yes.
- [50:26]
Rachel Dratch
A yes. Okay. She got a yes. Okay. What was your question?
- [50:30]
Cara Romero
I'm making some sun prints, and it's supposed to rain all week, so it was. Is the sun gonna come out next week?
- [50:37]
Rachel Dratch
Okay, that's a perfect, perfect question.
- [50:40]
Cara Romero
A weather question. We've never had.
- [50:42]
Irene Bremes
Weather question.
- [50:42]
Rachel Dratch
We've never had a weather question. That's good.
- [50:44]
Irene Bremes
That's good.
- [50:45]
Cara Romero
I need good weather for my art next week.
- [50:48]
Rachel Dratch
Okay, wait. What's a sun print if I dare throw one more art question at you.
- [50:53]
Sponsor Voice 1
Yeah, yeah.
- [50:54]
Cara Romero
No, they're called cyanotypes. So I did some film work in the past three months, and I made cyanotypes, which are exposed outside in the sun. And I'm getting ready to do another batch of them, if you will. But it's going to rain for, like, the next three or four days, and so I really need the sun to come back out next week so I.
- [51:16]
Rachel Dratch
Can expose the them. Okay. I guess it's happening. The sun's coming out.
- [51:20]
Irene Bremes
And keep us updated.
- [51:21]
Cara Romero
I'll loop back around to medium and let you know if it's okay.
- [51:26]
Rachel Dratch
Wait, by the way, sidebar. What's your Dartmouth connection? Your husband went there and one of your kids or something?
- [51:33]
Cara Romero
I. My brother went there, my niece went there, My stepson went there. Oh, wow. My husband's a Montgomery fellow, but they've been collecting contemporary native art where most institutions have not. They have this through line. And they started collecting my art at that Santa Fe Indian market in 2017. And that was John Stomberg, the director of the Hood. And then fast forward, they brought on. She's a powerhouse curator. Her name is Jamie Powell, who was also interested in my work. And so they have one of the largest repositories of my work in the United States. And I can't say enough good things about the Hood in Dartmouth.
- [52:19]
Rachel Dratch
Yeah, the Hood is a beautiful museum.
- [52:21]
Sponsor Voice 1
If you're ever.
- [52:22]
Rachel Dratch
I know it's so random, but if you're ever wandering through the woods of New Hampshire and you want to see some amazing art, stop at the Hood Museum. Yes, agreed. All right, well, Kara, thank you so much. This was such an honor for us.
- [52:35]
Irene Bremes
Amazing meet. So much fun.
- [52:37]
Rachel Dratch
Yeah. So fun. So, I don't know, I feel like I have a new, like, charge to. To try to reconnect with my art.
- [52:46]
Irene Bremes
Right, right.
- [52:47]
Cara Romero
We need your art, too.
- [52:48]
Irene Bremes
Aw, thank you.
- [52:50]
Sponsor Voice 1
Thank you.
- [52:51]
Rachel Dratch
All right, well, thanks, Kara. And you can find me on Instagram at Ray Dratch. That's R A E Dratch. And you can find Irene at Irenebremis. That's B R E M I S Bremis. And thanks for listening.
- [53:07]
Sponsor Voice 1
Listening.
- [53:10]
Rachel Dratch
Thanks for joining me on this journey into the world of Woo woo. Don't forget to rate, review and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Woo Woo with Rachel Dratch is a Q Code production executive produced by David.
- [53:23]
Sponsor Voice 1
Henning and Steve Wilson.
- [53:24]
Rachel Dratch
Produced by Alexa Gabriel Ramirez Edited by.
- [53:27]
Sponsor Voice 1
Will Tendi.
- [53:36]
Cara Romero
Limu Emu and Doug Here.
- [53:39]
Sponsor Voice 2
We have the Limu Emu in its.
- [53:41]
Cara Romero
Natural habitat, helping people customize their car insurance and save hundreds with Liberty Mutual. Fascinating. It's accompanied by his natural ally, Doug. Uh, Limu is that guy with the binoculars watching us.
- [53:56]
Sponsor Voice 2
Cut the camera.
- [53:57]
Cara Romero
They see us.
- [53:58]
Sponsor Voice 5
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