Across the Sea and Into the Sky

Across the Sea and Into the Sky

Across the Sea and Into the Sky is a collaborative piece by artists Hollis Chitto and Jorge Mañes Rubio. This medicine bag addresses the entangled and complex histories in between the two artists backgrounds, that being Pueblo and Spanish. One side, made by Hollis, features an excerpt from a design of an Acoma pot now held in the Spanish Royal Collection in Madrid. The other, made by Jorge, depicts a golden milagro, a talismanic symbol of Spanish origin now commonly found in New Mexico. Through this collaboration, the two artists exchanged ideas and techniques around beadwork, echoing the role that glass beads played in diplomatic relations. The work, shaped by shared personal memories and collective history, hopes to offer healing of wounds from colonial legacies still present in this land.

This work was made while in residency at the Santa Fe Art Institute and the Institute of the American Indian Arts in Santa Fe New Mexico, as part of the Transatlantic Rising Stars Project 2026 supported by the European Union Delegation to the United States of America.

Across the Sea and Into the Sky, 2026
Hollis Chitto & Jorge Mañes Rubio
Braintanned buckskin, glass beads, sequins, synthetic hair, brass cones, brass charms, brass beads, freshwater pearls, lapis lazuli
36x4x2 inch / 91x10x5 cm