“Some of Sobé’s work portrays abstract faces and spirits of feminine, intergenerational, Two Spirit figures in states of presence, radiance, and, at moments, suffering. The painting’s visceral effect startled me, and I asked Sobé if we could include the painting in the artwork of my last record. Sobé’s work has a charge of urgent disruption, emotional clarity, and vividness, with portraits that reflect centuries of gracious tradition, violence, moral authority, inspired curiosity, and confounding survival strategy. The way Sobé has at times bound Two Spirit portraiture in conversation with images of Western figures from 20th Century underground queerdom is complex, decisive, and clarion. Sobé’s work is a revelation, articulating a new conversation, and drawing a generous teaching window.”  

Anohni

New York City and the Wargods,   Acrylic on poster,   24 x 36 in   (60.96 x 91.44 cm)   2016    PRIVATE COLLECTION

I was living in New York City and working at the iconic Pearl Paint on Canal Street when the September 11 tragedy occurred. The city shut down, beginning at Canal Street and moving downtown. A few weeks later, I noticed a poster leaning against the sale section at IKEA in Brooklyn. By then, the imagery of the World Trade Center had become difficult to sell; people were understandably tender and guarded in the wake of the tragedy. I bought the poster and placed it in storage, where it remained until 2009, when I took it out again. From it, I began to imagine a skyline filled with symbolic figures meant to be planted in the ground—figures that, as they decay, carry messages from the people back to the creator. 

We'wha,  Acrylic on lucite,  24 x 24 in   (60.96 x 60.96 cm)  2021     Inquire

Painted in the dense, electric solitude of New York City, the work is anchored entirely in the red clay of Middle Village (Halona:wa), the ancestral ground where We’wha historically lived, created, and walked. This immediate, lived proximity infuses the canvas not with historical nostalgia, but with a vibrant, vital presence.

We’wha (1849–1896)—the revered Zuni Lhamana cultural leader, weaver, and potter—is lifted out of the sepia-toned, static confines of the ethnographic archive. In place of the museum lens, the work employs a lexicon of hard-edge precision and luminous, solid fields of high-chroma color. By utilizing clean, industrial materials to render a sacred traditional legacy, the painting bypasses formal academic taxonomies. Instead, it strikes a singular, graphic frequency that demands a confrontation in the present tense.

Recently exhibited at Nicodim Gallery in Los Angeles for the exhibition Margaritaville, curated by Devendra Banhart, the portrait serves as a monumental bridge between the sacred interior of the Pueblo and the global contemporary art stage. It is a striking exploration of indigenous gender fluidity, ancestral memory, and the enduring power of place—proving that We'wha's spirit is not a relic of the past, but a living, continuous current.

Zuni Spring,    Acrylic on Masonite,    24 x 36 in  (60.96 x 121.92 cm)  2008    Private Collection

Decaying Wargod,   Acrylic on masonite,   12 x 24 in (5.08 x 60.96 cm)  2009     Collection of the National Museum of American Indian

Star Child ,   Acrylic on masonite,   24 x 18 in,   1999    PRIVATE COLLECTION