Maso Danzantes / Deer Dancers — Ricardo Santos Hernández. Mixed media works on paper. Two Yaqui deer dancers rendered in cut paper, drawing, and collage — antlered figures adorned in ceremonial regalia of gold, red, and blue, moving across a desert earth horizon against a night-black ground. The exploration of the deer dancer through works on paper is an entry into Yaqui roots, the sentiment of the Sonora-Arizona desert. The Maso, the sacred deer, dances still. — Ricardo Santos HernándezDanzante / Deer Dancer — Ricardo Santos Hernández. Mixed media works on paper. A solitary Yaqui deer dancer stands against a celestial night sky alive with stars, moons, and suns — antlers branching upward like sacred geometry, ceremonial regalia layered in cut paper of red, turquoise, and earth tones, a sacred feather held in hand. The figure stands on desert ground, rooted between earth and cosmos. A meditation on Yaqui spiritual identity, the sacred dance, and the living connection between the people and the land of the Sonora-Arizona desert. — Ricardo Santos HernándezDeer Dancer — Ricardo Santos Hernández. Mixed media works on paper. A lone Yaqui deer dancer stands on a dune of desert earth against a deep turquoise sky — antlers rising, ceremonial regalia of red and ochre flowing, a sacred gourd rattle cradled in an outstretched hand. Drawn and painted on dark paper with pastel, ink, and collage, the figure carries the quiet power of the Maso: the sacred deer who dances between the human and the divine, between the Sonora desert and the spirit world. Signed Ricardo. — Ricardo Santos Hernández
