We recently held a request for submission and subsequent vote on new symbols to use to represent our event. The motivation for this was to not make use of the Zia symbol, which the people of the Zia Pueblo hold sacred, and have requested that permission be given before the Zia is used by organizations.

We had several great submissions, some of which may see life in other uses, but the submission that received the most votes is now our profile picture. From the artist:

“I walked by a short agave cactus one morning and felt inspired, imagining that I was the sun beating down on it. This led me to create a simple mandala with the agave leaves. For the center motif, I wanted to do something using negative space that would allow for a stencil-friendly image that wasn’t as simple as plopping the man in the middle of something. I also felt strongly that this symbol should be simple enough to allow the rest of the community to remix and repurpose it without difficulty. I hope everyone who sees it can spend a few moments pretending to be the New Mexican Sun, and reflect on how they shine on their world.”