Tsohanoaii or Johano-ai is the sun god of the Dine(Navajo) people of the American Southwest who travels across the sky each day. As the story goes Estanatlehi (his female counterpart) and Johano-ai had two sons, the Twin Spears or Little War Gods who’s purpose was to eliminate the chaos of the then new world which took the form of various monsters.

This is the first piece in a chronological series that depicts the creation myths of the Dine people using abstract digital compositions adapted from images of slot canyons I shot for source material. All the original material was gathered on Navajo Nation land.

From a Navajo story:

The Sun-God, Johano-ai, starts each morning from his home in the east and rides across the skies to his home in the west. He carries with him his shining gold disk, the sun. He has five horses–a horse of turquoise, one of white shell, one of pearly shell, one of red shell, and one of coal.

The skies are blue and the weather is fair, the Sun-God rides his horse of turquoise, or the one of white shell, or the one of pearly shell. But when the heavens are dark with storm, he mounts the red horse or the horse of coal.

Beneath the hoofs of the horses are spread precious hides of all kinds and also beautiful blankets, carefully woven and richly decorated. In the days gone by, the Dine (Navajo) wove rich blankets, said to have been found first in the home of the Sun-God. He lets his horses graze on flower blossoms, and drink from mingled waters. These are holy waters of all kinds–spring water, snow water, hail water, water from the four corners of the world. The Dine (Navajo) use such waters in their ceremonies.