The recently opened “Una Tierra Tan Extraña” … “A Land So Strange” exhibit at the Hubbard Museum of the American West includes an intriguing section of color photographs by noted Santa Fe photographer Ann Murdy. The exhibit celebrates New Mexico’s Centennial of statehood with artifacts and images from its own collections as well as from Ms. Murdy, the Library of Congress, the Spanish Colonial Art Society, the Maxwell Museum, and the School for Advanced Research.

Murdy’s large, sharply-focused images of Santa Fe’s Indian and Spanish Markets, cowboys, and mountain men, present a sympathetic view of contemporary New Mexicans. On her website she has written “As a photographer I am fascinated by cultural events, especially those events outside of my culture. These photos express my love of people and places.” Ann Murdy’s photographs reveal the persistence of ancient cultures and their enrichment of life in New Mexico today.

The Land So Strange exhibit officially opened in the Hubbard Museum’s Mezzanine Gallery on June 16 and runs through Feb. 8. The exhibit includes 800-year-old woven cotton textiles from the Four Corners Region that illustrate the advanced culture of Native Americans before the arrival of the Spanish. A reproduction of the Segesser hide painting from 1720 depicts a battle between Spanish troops from New Mexico and French troops with their Indian allies. Over the last four centuries, the cultures of Native Americans, Spaniards, and Euro-Americans have fought with each other, intermingled and evolved into a unique New Mexican way of life.

The Hubbard Museum of the American West is located at 26301 Highway 70 in Ruidoso Downs and is open from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Visit www.hubbardmuseum.org or call 575-378-4142 for information. The Hubbard Museum of the American West is owned and operated by the City of Ruidoso Downs.