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Writer's pictureTyler A Deem

Petroglyphs of Nevada: Digital and Analog


MARKS OF TIME


Illustration and drawings exist in many forms, some temporary which wear down, others more resistant to time. The carved petroglyphs are hundreds of years old and yet it is so easy to imagine the hands that scribed these symbols onto rock faces.



Petroglyph 7: Fracture and man, 2021. Digital Photograph.


Petroglyph 6: tad846, 2021. Van Dyke brown print.


Strategically placed but appearing random, the petroglyphs of the desert are remnants of age-old statements of life. We remark on the everyday, as well as the profound quality it has. Even today we are compelled to draw esoteric things such animals and people, the sun and stars... just as our ancestors did. The way the marks are made is a matter of time, when it was made. It is a reference to their time and place.


Lucky for us, seeing the stroke or mark of creativity easily transmits through time, and brings meaning with it. The hand that made the mark feels as real today as in was in the past.



Petroglyph 1: tad838, 2021. Van Dyke brown print.



Petroglyph 9: tad836, 2021. Van Dyke brown print.


Whether in the sand, the bark of a tree, or carved in a rock... drawing is a way of saying 'I was here" ...in the moment. It is also the means to share that moment.


Petroglyph 4b, 2021. Digital photograph.

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