I was shocked and saddened to read Childs’ grim
report (HCN,
4/28/08). I looked on eBay under “Anasazi” – sure enough,
there was all kinds of stuff for sale. Shocking. There’s a way to
enjoy this art without robbing graves. I bought a pot at the Acoma
Pueblo. It sits in my living room. The man who made it earned money
for that. He’s happy, and so am I. Nothing destroyed. I have bought
jewelry from Zunis and Navajos as well. They make a good living,
and I get to wear a beautiful design. No grave robbing.
There is a gallery in Southern California that sells pre-Columbian
artifacts, including an enormous amount of gold figures that were
fashioned into amulets and jewelry, buried with the dead 500-1,500
years ago in Central America, and dug up by grave robbers. I
brought a photo of one of the amulets to a jeweler who actually
worked with the Getty Museum, researching how pre-Columbian Indians
made their gold pieces. He re-created one for me from the photo. It
looks identical to an ancient one, but again, no bad karma, no
grave robbing. OK, so it’s not “ancient.” But at least I can live
with myself.
Crista Worthy
Los Angeles,
California
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Art with a conscience.
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