Burn Him!: The Story of Zozobra

with Dr. Mark White

August 20, 2026 4 PM CT

 

The Burning of Zozobra, “Old Man Gloom,” is a New Mexico community event staged annually in Santa Fe. Artist William Howard “Will” Shuster, Jr, a member of Los Cinco Pintores, a group of artists and writers who made their way to New Mexico in the 1920s, created the first Zozobra in 1924. This talk will trace the cultural history of this unique New Mexico tradition.

 

Mark White earned his doctoral degree in art history at the University of Kansas. His major area of study was 20th century American painting and sculpture with an additional focus on Native American art and material culture. A native of Oklahoma, he spent eight years teaching art history at Oklahoma State University before going on to lead the Fred J. Jones Museum of Art at the University of Oklahoma. He was the Executive Director of the New Mexico Museum of Art from 2020 to his retirement in 2025. He is the author of a chapter on Doel Reed in Sun Patterns, Dark Canyon and he has recently taught a leisure learning class at the DRC.