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WHEN ART EQUALS LIFE

Sandstone is like a cat’s tongue rough and calloused. Its coarse surface grips shoes and ngers and holds hikers to the

rocks. Climbing on sandstone allows you to nd your way to places not normally accessible.

This at least, was what I told myself as I peered over the entrance into a hanging exposed cave in the Calico Hills. Located
high on the mountainside, the cave was nearly inaccessible, but was deep enough to appear inviting. I was determined
to investigate, so I lowered my backpack beneath me and then slowly and carefully slid down the rock and dropped
inside.

The cave was at, comfortable, and sheltered. Obviously someone else thought so too. The back wall was covered in
pictographs. In a panel about 20 feet long there was a series of gures drawn in charcoal. The drawings represented
di erent types of people: women and men, small gures and large ones, Europeans and Native Americans. The size,
length and diversity of the drawings were unusual, but what really struck me was that most of the gures were holding
hands.

Since the drawings featured both natives and westerners, they must have been done circa 1840 or later. If this was
created by a Native American from the Paiute Tribe, it would have been a tumultuous time. The clash of cultures, old and
new was dramatically altering the Paiutes’ daily customs and the very meaning they gave the world. All around Las
Vegas, the Paiutes’ way of life was under siege and they were being captured or driven away. Under such circumstances,
how could the person who drew these gures ever show his people holding hands with the very ones destroying his
culture?

Because the drawings were done in charcoal, the artist probably built a re in the little grotto. I could hardly climb down
into the cave. I imagined how hard it would be to set up camp here for a few days. What must it have been like for the
person who drew these beautiful pictures? Perhaps 150 years ago, a young man, realizing the coming end of his way of
life, sat in the glow of a small re and drew his vision of the world he would like to live in. Perhaps he longed for a peace
he knew was impossible and drew his hopes upon the rock. Perhaps he was imagining a time when two totally di erent
peoples could walk together without destroying each other.

What courage it must have taken to show these two diverse sides hand in hand! After all, wouldn’t revenge or battle be a
more typical human response? That such a hopeful idea could be created by a person pushed to the edge of cultural
extinction is astonishing, and it presents a universal message about the complexity and depth of the human experience
in the face of tragedy. Like all great art, it captures an emotion that conveys meaning apart from the speci c circum-
stances of its creation. Although we will never know the artist’s true motivations, or just what happened that day, we can
still relate.

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