DeAnna Autumn Leaf Suazo (Diné, Taos Pueblo)

We are deeply saddened to acknowledge the loss of DeAnna Autumn Leaf Suazo (Diné, Taos Pueblo), who tragically passed away last weekend.

DeAnna graduated from the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Spring 2021 with a BFA in Studio Arts and she was admitted to IAIA‘s inaugural MFA in Studio Arts cohort in Summer 2021.

DeAnna loved celebrating her Diné and Taos Pueblo heritage and creating art that reflected Pueblo cultural significance and aesthetics. Inspired by heroic figures of Japanese manga novels, including “Sailor Moon,” she imbued her work with memory, resilience, and good intentions. Her most recent work emphasized figural paintings of strong Indigenous women that, in her words, “grind every day for a better community.”

DeAnna showed artwork at the Southwest Association for Indian Arts Market (SWAIA) for over a decade. She was also a featured artist at many national art markets, including the Heard Museum Indian Market and Fair, the Autry Museum Artist Market, and the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian Artist Market. She was a SITE Santa Fe Scholar and a 2021 Taos Fine Arts Visionary Artist.

DeAnna’s artwork has been exhibited across the country, including the recent exhibitions Manifesting Our Destinies at the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts’ (MoCNA) and Retrospective of Change at the Balzer Contemporary Edge Gallery on campus. She will be remembered as a dedicated student, a devoted friend, a kind person, and a passionate artist whose creativity knew no bounds.

Please keep DeAnna’s family in your thoughts and prayers.