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    • Clayton Bruce Lyon Delves into Myths & Stories of Sangre De Cristo Mountains

    September 12th, 2018
    Written by Stanley Bloom
    community documentary mystery myth nature poetic religion still life usa

    Clayton Bruce Lyon grew up in Kansas City, United States. At 22, he graduated with a degree in photography, and currently works as a photographer and video producer in northwestern Arkansas. Clayton hopes to change the way people view the world with meaningful work. His series Sangre de Cristo is composed of images taken in the city of Crestone and in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, in southern Colorado, an area rich in cultural and religious beliefs.

    Can you give us some background information about how you got to photography?
    When I was younger I was really into illustration but I knew I was bad at it. Picking up a camera felt a lot more natural so I gravitated towards that in college and ended up loving it. I sort of found it by accident. I started taking pictures with one of those compact digital cameras that people take on vacations. Then my brother traded me an entry-level camera for my old laptop and I started shooting more with that. Photography really started as a social thing for me, documenting trips I went on with friends and shooting with other photographers. As photography has become a medium for me to make art, it’s grown into something that’s a lot more exploratory and less social.

    Kiara prefers her guests remove their shoes when entering her home (which is also a bed & breakfast), a space she considers sacred.
    Ant hill with cacti.

    Introduce us to your series Sangre De Cristo
    Sangre de Cristo was my first foray into fine art/social doc projects. I traveled to Crestone, a small town located at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo mountains in southern Colorado. There are many different stories on how the Cristos got their name, but my favorite has to be the legend of the Spanish priest who lay dying with a Pueblo arrow in his chest, looking up at the unique phenomenon of the blood-red mountains at sunset and calling out “Sangre de Cristo!” with his final breath.

    You describe Crestone as a spiritual mecca, that was once a gold mining town. How did you discover the place and what did inspire you at first?
    When I started this project I had read about all of the stories and legends that pervade the area and I had to wonder if the beauty of this sacred land had similarly inspired all of these people across cultures and time. Throughout the history of the area is a wide range of mythical stories from different cultures. Gold miners, Spanish conquistadores, and—most of all—Native American tribes, all felt the ethereal quality of the Sangre de Cristo mountains and the San Luis valley at it’s foot. Crestone today has dozens of spiritual centers across many different religions, all in a fairly small town. The beauty of the place is undeniable and you can see the impact it has on people even today.

    Brothers at a music festival in Crestone

    What do ants represent in your photographs?
    The ants represent the connection the Native Americans have with the land. The Hopi tribe in particular, whose Pueblos resemble ant colonies, have legends involving “Ant People,” who would rescue the Hopi from the apocalypse by leading them to subterranean caves, called “sipapu.” The San Luis lakes, located just south of the Cristos, were thought to be the location of the “sipapu” due to it’s location in the valley. I find it increasingly fascinating when you consider the surge of European gold miners burrowing through the mountains in search of gold, unaware of the sacred connection the Hopi and many other tribes had with the earth.

    Discover his series on his website.

    Kiara has offered her home in Crestone as a bed and breakfast for ten years, and provides a place for people to retreat and meditate among her garden of statues and rocks promoting the harmony of many religions.
    Kiara, once a Catholic nun, left the sisterhood and later felt drawn to Crestone.
    Ants pervade much of the Native American lore in the San Luis valley.
    Painting of the Sangre de Cristos in Crestone. The dual peaks also represent the unity of Shiva (Kailash) and Christ Consciousness (Siddeshwari), a popular visual among those at the Haidakhandi Universal Ashram who have made Crestone their home. According to their teachings, “all religions are incorporated in the principle of Truth, Simplicity and Love.”
    Crestone, CO was once a gold mining town. The boom was short lived and left the mountain range riddled with deteriorating mine shafts.
    According to the Hopi tribe, the San Luis Lakes were the location of the “sipapu,” a Hopi word in this case referring to the place of refuge during the apocalypse. In Hopi pueblos, a kiva is a room used by the tribe for religious rituals. They are walled, subterranean rooms that also serve as a representation of their cosmos. In the floor of each kiva is a small but deep hole called the “sipapu”. The San Luis valley resembles a kiva in many ways, and the San Luis Lakes act as the sipapu of the valley.
    The Carmelites are a Roman Catholic religious order formed sometime in the 12th Century that focuses on devotion to a lifestyle of poverty.
    According to tradition, the Hopi would be led underground to safety at the sipapu just before a cleansing apocalypse. They were warned of the upcoming apocalypse by sky spirits signaling them to travel to the sipapu.