Rez Cars

Desert Rider Exhibition Guide

Rez cars, “rez runners,” or “Indian cars,” are vintage vehicles found on reservations that show their age. They may be missing elements—bumpers, side view mirrors, and/or engine parts—but they still run. Indigenous communities in California use the term “Indian car” as a descriptive counterpoint to the more polished, flashy lowriders that populate the Southwest. But like lowriders, these cars can represent independence, freedom, and the dream of a better life.

The road will never end for me as long as I have my rez car.

—Andrea Goodwin, “My Rez Car” (2008). Reprinted with permission Tribal College Journal (ed.). 2010. Touching Home: Stories and Poems by Tribal College Students. Mancos, CO: Tribal College Press.
Four Indigenous children on the bed of a rusty, vintage red truck. They wear brown and white feathered headdresses and cloth coverings on their hips. The truck sits on flat dirt ground under a blue sky.

Courtesy of the artist © Cara Romero

Cara Romero
Chemehuevi Indian Tribe of the Mojave Desert, CA, born 1977 in Inglewood, CA, lives and works in Santa Fe, NM
Spirits of the Siwavaats
2019
Digital color photograph
Courtesy of the artist
© Cara Romero

Four boys from the Chemehuevi Valley Indian Reservation pose on an old truck that has been sitting across from Cara Romero’s home for about 20 years. The juxtaposition of the boys’ youth, the battered car, the landscape, and their headdresses demonstrates a deep connection to a shared landscape that stands witness to the past and looks toward the future.

A red lowrider with silver detailing is at the center of the composition. Different Navajo designs overlay the car.

Courtesy of the artist © Nanibah Chacon

Nanibah Chacon
Diné Chicana, born 1980 in Gallup, NM, lives and works in Albuquerque, NM
Juntos |Together
2021
Serigraph
Courtesy of the artist © Nanibah Chacon

Nanibah Chacon links lowriders with Diné (Navajo) weavers in this print. Makers in both cultures embark on an act of creation, a process of discovery in which the end result is unknown at the start. While Navajo rugs and lowriders reflect the point of view of their makers, they are also part of a wider web of family, history, and place.

Desert Rider: Dreaming in Motion is organized by Phoenix Art Museum. It is presented with generous support from the Adolph Coors Exhibition Endowment Fund, The Christensen Fund, U.S. Bank, the donors to the Annual Fund Leadership Campaign, and the residents who support the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD). Promotional support is provided by 5280 Magazine and CBS Colorado.