VAST: Visiting Artist & Scholar Talks

Chip Thomas, aka jetsonorama, is a photographer, public artist and physician who worked in a small clinic on the Navajo Nation from 1987 to 2023. There he coordinated the Painted Desert Project which he describes as a community building effort which manifested as a constellation of murals painted by artists from the Navajo Nation as well as from around the world.

Thomas’ own public artwork consists of enlarged black and white photographs pasted onto structures along the roadside primarily on the Navajo Nation but all over the country. His motivation is to build community while reflecting back to Navajo people the love they’ve shared with him over the years. Thomas was a 2018 Kindle Project gift recipient and in 2020 he was one of a handful of artists chosen by the UN to recognize the 75 th anniversary of the UN’s founding. He has no formal artistic training but identifies strongly with the DIY energy of punk and hip hop.