The Maiden
by
John Kostura

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The depth of this young maiden's eyes first drew me to this image. The maturity and at the same time innocence so interwoven in this portrait presents a paradox to me.

"The Maiden" is a matured rendition of a photograph by Edward S. Curtis entitled "Qahátika Girl".

Curtis wrote "A type of the desert Indian. They [the Qahátika] still depend mainly upon the natural food supply, such as mesquite pods and cactus fruit. One cannot help wondering how these Indians would have managed if Nature had made the giant cactus with a solid trunk. Here at the rock-strewn foot of the desert mountain, where scarcely any other form of vegetal life seems able to exist, provident Nature permits this variety of cactus to flourish, and to furnish unlimited quantities of food as well as material for the building of habitable houses."