saguaros/hahaṣañ Inside me 

Photographers: David Ty Reza, Gilbert Salazar
Tohono O’odham Community College 

ha:ṣañ growing inside me,  

erupting, 

crowning 

blossoming 

a mountain of saguaros/ hahaṣañ still to grow 

As a Chicano person who learned of my Tohono O’odham ancestry later in life, I have been exploring what does it mean to explore, claim, identify as O’odham when I was raised away from O’odham land and without knowing of this ancestry for the first part of my life?

Then on my 34 birthday I went for the first time, alone, to O’odham jeweḍ otherwise known as southern Arizona.  When I encountered Saguaro’s, I recognized them as people. They began a deeper more intentional exploration and understanding of ancestors. This self-portrait represents my journey of my questions of identity.