Marcellus Medina

On a Sia Housetop, Trinidad Medina , photographed by Edward Curtis about 1895 (left) and her great-great-great-granson, Marcellus Medina, photographed by John Graybill for the Descendants Project (right)

Descendants photo © Curtis Legacy Foundation 2024

Marcellus Medina

by: Shawnee Real Bird

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There is a legacy within the pueblo of Zia that has existed since time immemorial. The cosmic gods blessed the cornmeal road to guide the Zia people through their traditions.

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The art of Zia Pueblo pottery transcends mere craftsmanship, becoming a profound spiritual practice. The clay, sourced from sacred ground, is not just a material but a symbol of the Zia people's deep connection and reverence for Mother Earth.

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Marcellus Medina and his wife, Elizabeth, are both artists and custodians of the Zia Pueblo's cultural legacy. They embody the beauty of the mighty creator of the cosmic world in every aspect of their beings and share their stories through the traditional medium of pottery.

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Marcellus’ life is a testament to the continuity of Zia Pueblo's cultural heritage. He lives on the same soil as his grandmother Trinidad Medina's house, which once stood as the house where he was born. She hand-coiled her pottery inside before painting it and firing it in her home studio. She made traditional Zia Pueblo pottery designs such as birds, hummingbirds, flowers, rainbows, and clouds. Today, Marcellus has rebuilt a house in honor of Trinidad's home—the same home that Edward Curtis photographed Trinidad in nearly 100 years ago.

"Here's the thing about Edward Curtis: my heart gets filled with joy, and I'm blessed with this image. I bought one of the original photographs. It's a blessing for me, but I can't say enough. If I can give her [Trinidad Medina] the universe to be reborn again, I can't do that, but if I did, I would give it to her. But she's not gone in my culture, in my Pueblo belief system. She's with me. And I know she has been reborn and reincarnated as a beautiful butterfly, the ultimate gift from the cosmic creator to be reborn as a butterfly. And the hummingbird is a messenger from the cosmic creator. When we started building this new home here for myself and my wife Elizabeth, my children, and my grandchildren, we started digging the foundation and cleaning the rocks, and we saw all these hummingbirds. A hummingbird sends a message to the creator, telling me that she has reached the place where she was born, and the creator made her, and they accepted her back. And she's sitting with all my other relatives, all my people that have passed since time immemorial. They're all there with her. That's how grateful I am, and I hope that the creator and spiritual gods and any God bless Edward Curtis for taking these images of her. Not only my grandmother, Trinidad, there are all these Native people, grandmothers, grandfathers, and all of them. It's a historical fact that we were here, and we're still here, and we're still growing.”

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"We all are human beings. Edward Curtis captured the image of the beautiful people of the nation, of the Indian nation, and of the Indian culture and religion. He captured it in these photographs. And of all the other photographs of other individuals in this book, I hope they are blessed. And Edward Curtis did that for all of us, and I'm very grateful."

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