The Jicarilla Apache
A Portrait
Between 1976 and 1993 Nancy Warren visited the Jicarilla Apache reservation in northern New Mexico numerous times. She was permitted to photograph their daily activities and various celebrations. Warren's ninety halftone photographs capture the Jicarilla lifestyles and customs, revealing an understanding of their culture and beliefs. While most sacred ceremonies could not be photographed, the important tribal foot race is well documented.
Veronica Tiller provides an essay about the reservation, its history, and its resources to familiarize potential visitors with the area.
"The reservation offers the outdoor enthusiast and tourist some of the most spectacular vacation, sightseeing, sports, hunting, and fishing opportunities in the southwestern United States. For the sportsman, hunting on the reservation is considered some of the best in the United Sates, drawing hunters and sightseers worldwide. Five major big game (elk and deer) migration corridors cross the reservation. Game includes elk, black bear, mountain lion, turkey, and Canadian geese. In addition, seven of the tribe's fifteen mountain lakes are stocked with rainbow, brown, and cutthroat trout. Fishing is permitted at Dulce, Enbom, Hayden, Horse, La Jara, Mundo, and Stone Lakes, and the Navajo River. The tribe welcomes all visitors, but it requires that they abide by guidelines and restrictions intended to protect and preserve natural resources."--from Veronica Tiller's essay
Nancy Hunter Warren is a former staff photographer for the Museum of New Mexico’s Laboratory of Anthropology, Santa Fe. Her other books include Villages Of Hispanic New Mexico and New Mexico Style. Veronica E. Velarde Tiller, a Jicarilla Apache, holds a Ph.D. in history from the University of New Mexico. She is CEO of Tiller Research, Inc., a consulting firm in Albuquerque.