IAIA trustees and the president with Douglas Miles and students in front of “Apache Anamorphic.” 

Students, faculty, and staff will notice new art on the east side of the Academic Building this spring.  

“Apache Anamorphic,” a triptych image of three Native faces now adorns the sun-side of the short canal that faces another new image, a wheat paste lettering tag created by famed street artist Al Diaz in collaboration with IAIA Artist-in-Residence (A-I-R) artist Douglas Miles (White Mountain Apache, San Carlos Apache, and Akimel O’odham) and IAIA students. (Diaz is known as the other half of the legendary “SAMO©” street art duo along with his partner Jean-Michel Basquiat). 

Miles inaugurated the A-I-R studio in January and concluded his residency in March. The students working with him on the mural were Midnight Lujan (Taos Pueblo), Bella Edmo (Pyramid Lake Paiute, Shoshone Bannock, and Blackfeet), Danielle Evans (Mescalero Apache), Azalea Cisco (Mescalero and Chiricahua Apache), Darius Sundayman (Mescalero Apache), Alan “AJ” Tahhahwa (Comanche Nation), Sheridan Fowler (Diné), Xeneca Le Clair (Otoe-Missouria), Stormy Kay (Hopi andTewa), Ricardo Maratalla (Latinx), Izzy Mondragón (Chickasaw, Purépecha, and Chicanx), Maya Buffalo (Mandan, Hadista,  and Arikara), and Wanbdi Merrick (Spirit Lake Nation). In addition, Miles Smith Jr. (Mescalero and Jicarilla Apache) and Rowdy Livingston (Diné) worked on filmography for the art. 

“It’s art, yes, but it’s very definitely street art,” Miles says, exhorting students to tag the piece with their names as they finish up the last touches and clean the paints and drop cloths around the building. The artist, known for his work as the founder of Apache Skateboards, is a painter, printmaker and photographer from Arizona whose connections with artists like Diaz put him at the apex of both graffiti and street art and urban style. 

What does the image represent? “It may be a goddess figure,” he says. “What does it look like to you?” He wants viewers to experience the new mural in tandem with the Diaz wheat paste tag across from it. “See that tag SAMO©?,” he says, “It’s part of street art legend.” 

The community mural, “Apache Anamorphic,” is located on the east side of the Academic Building and is available for viewing during regular campus hours, Monday–Friday, 9 am–5 pm.