Artist creates woman warrior skateboards

By Natasha Kaye Johnson
Diné Bureau

GALLUP — Jolene Nenibah Yazzie remembers as a young girl how she and her little sister Janene were awed by the abilities of the comic book superhero Wonder Woman.

They were fascinated by a number of other female super heroes, but they dazzled with Wonder Woman’s long black hair that reflected their own, and were infatuated by the strength and exuberance she possessed. Remembering their crazed enthusiasm for Wonder Woman made them laugh Thursday evening.

“But we always wanted to look up to Native super heroes,” remembers Jolene Yazzie.

Being as there was no Native super heroes — and no Native woman super heroes at that — Yazzie would eventually create her own.

Taking a break from her dinner at Coal Street Pub, Yazzie takes out a skateboard with the image of her first Native women super hero Ko’ Asdzaa, translating to “Fire Woman” in Navajo. It will be the first image in limited edition series of skateboards designed by Yazzie.

The intensity and fierceness in Ko’ Asdzaa’s eyes is grabbing, and her long black hair underneath the plume of feathers upon her bonnet signify that she is a warrior. Her feminine features are highlighted with the traditional silver necklace she wears. Ko’ Asdzaa is only one of several female warrior images that Yazzie has created.

“Each woman has a weapon that they specialize in like a bow and arrow, spears, and a hatchet,” explained Yazzie. She plans to name the other unique women warriors, but has yet to name them. “Their name has to be sacred.”

Yazzie’s artwork has landed her a debut opening this weekend at the Native Vinyl Art Show opening at the Pop Gallery in Santa Fe during the Indian Market.

“It took a lot to draw her,” Yazzie said, whose newly launched skateboard company is called Asdzaan Skateboards. “It didn’t come to me in one day.”

For the past ten years, the idea of creating a line of skateboards with her own design has been formulating in the back of her mind, but like many artists, her passion developed over the years.

Early childhood years
At the age of 12, Yazzie was drawn to skateboards, and she spent much of her time as a young girl hanging out with her brothers, Jonathan and Jonas. Whenever she could, she would tag along with them at their skating excursions and escapades.

Throughout her high school years, Yazzie continued to skate, and found herself reading comic books and thrasher magazines. It was during this time her brother Jonas began pushing her in the direction of drawing.

“He’d throw me something and say saw draw this,” recalls the 28-year old artist from Lupton. “I said, ‘I can’t draw this. You’re crazy.’”

But she would draw, and eventually gained a knack for artwork. She continued skating throughout high school, but stopped shortly after graduating, even though some of her fondest memories of childhood were skating with her brothers.

“No matter what I did, I knew that I wasn’t going to get good at skating,” admits Yazzie. “It just wasn’t something that I was going to do.”

But she was still drawn to skateboards and their images. After high school, she began taking graphic design courses at Collins College in Tempe, Ariz., where she began to develop her own unique style of designs. She knew she wanted to create designs for skateboards, but she just didn’t know of what.

Life-changing incident
Yazzie was 21 years old, and was at a point in her life where she was trying to polish her style as an artist when her sister shared a shocking secret that she kept bottled up for years.

“When I was 16, I told my family about being sexually molested for over eight years by a family member,” said Janene Yazzie, openly. Yazzie, who is currently a junior at Columbia University in New York, said the abuse began when she was 3 and continued until she was 10 years old.

Before telling her family, Janene told her sister what happened.

“I cried,” said Jolene, her voice cracking. “I felt like I let her down. I should have been there taking care of her.”

A few months later, Janene told her mother and the rest of the family about the abuse, with the support of Jolene. But they were shocked when a majority of the family decided to ignore the situation, and chose not to talk about it.

“It tore our family apart,” said Janene, who admitted she went into depression after being disowned by some of her family members. “It shut a lot of people out.”

But Yazzie said they remained strong with the support of their mother Laura, who began to open up about some of her own experiences and hardships. It was a difficult time in their lives that the two are still reluctant to share the details about today, but the experience is what ultimately inspired Yazzie to create the female super heroes. Her parents Laura and Jackie Yazzie Jr., encouraged her talent.

She credits her idea of creating Native super heroes to her mother and sister, as well as her sister in-law Sophia Yazzie.

“It was because of their strength,” Yazzie said. “It just came all together that way.”

Yazzie wants Native women and young girls to recognize that the images of the women she has created can be found within them, and that they are capable of overcoming anything.

“I just want to give women that power back,” Yazzie said.

She hopes that young Native girls will also use the board to take on skating themselves.

“Here’s a skate board of a strong Native woman that you can look up to and that she can skate on,” Yazzie said.

The idea of a female warrior seems so natural to Yazzie, especially because of the obstacles that many Native women overcome, like rape, abuse, and domestic violence.

“It came a lot from our history, like where we come from as Navajo people,” Yazzie said. “It seemed like nobody gave credit to the woman warriors.”

For years, women have served as warriors, upholding the household and raising the children, Yazzie said. While she feels strongly that the images will help to empower women, she is also anticipating criticism. One older Navajo man, Yazzie said, has already expressed belief that women should not be dressing like male warriors.

“She’s not trying to do something radical here,” said Janene Yazzie. “It’s a way of showing our inner women strength, and preserving our culture.”

Eventually, Yazzie would like to start her own comic book and cartoon, and have her images of her Native super heroes printed on items from truck stickers to shirts.

“I want to see it on screen, I want to see it everywhere,” she said passionately. “I want to be up there with Element and all those other big companies, but I still want to stay real.”

Artists will be attending the reception from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday at 133 West Mater, Santa Fe. To inquire about an Asdzaan Skateboard: (917) 716-3448.