Megan Driving Hawk

Divine Vigilance
Photography
5×7 print on 8×10 paper
2020

About the Artist

Megan (Chain) Driving Hawk has exhibited throughout the U.S. and internationally. Her work is part of the permanent collection at Northlight Gallery in Arizona and has been reviewed in Jackalope Ranch, ASU News, Tempe Republic, The State Press, Phoenix New Times, and the Navajo-Hopi Observer. She has been invited as guest lecturer, workshop facilitator, and panelist for various events at Arizona State University and the Phoenix Indian Center. In 2011, she traveled abroad and completed the Art Intersection artist residency in Italy. In 2016, she worked as an assistant muralist for the Community Roots Mural at Take Root Cafe in Kirksville, Missouri. In 2017, Driving Hawk worked on separate artist-led participatory projects and public art pieces with Luna City2175, The Green Thumb Project, Take Root Cafe, and Park River Toolkit.

M. Driving Hawk grew up in the suburban and country areas outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with a specialization in Photography and a minor in Women and Gender Studies from Arizona State University in 2010. In 2014, she earned a Master of Secondary Education and Teacher Certification in Art K-12 from Arizona State University. On a long-term residency from 2016-2018 she lived in Kirksville, Missouri where she taught art and attended a low-residency graduate program at the University of Hartford. In 2018, she earned a Master of Fine Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies. She is an Artist/Mother & Educator currently living in Phoenix, Arizona where she teaches high school traditional photography. She serves as the campus Indigenous Student and Youth Equity Stewardship Advisors.

www.MeganDrivingHawk.com
@MDrivingHawk00

Artist Statement

Time is not linear. There is no past, present, or future.

Memories are complex human faculties that shift over time. What we remember about a moment is altered by the fact that we are no longer in that moment. Our memories aren’t actually what happened and are often shaped over time and are influenced by our current emotions when we recall them. We usually feel differently about a memory than when we were in the moment. Additionally, for every memory we hold, there are multiple versions that exist for other people. One is not greater than the other(s). All versions are true and live in the world together as valid experiences to some degree. They are simultaneous and they are often contradictory.

The double exposure photographs in the series, Simultaneous Memories are a means to acknowledge the cyclical nature of the past, present, and future by healing the conscious and unconscious ancestral memories that live in my body now for a stronger 7 generations.