A view (looking east) of Ghost Ranch near Abiquiú, N.M., on March 11. Minesh Bacrania for NPR hide caption

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Minesh Bacrania for NPR

ABIQUIU, N.M. — On a recent afternoon, fluffy clouds drift past the sun, throwing light, then shadow, across distant cliffs layered in yellow, ochre and sienna.

This starkly beautiful, high desert of northern New Mexico is where the artist Georgia O'Keeffe lived and painted the abstract, color-drenched paintings of flowers, bones and landforms that brought her international acclaim as "the mother of American modernism."

In the 40 years since her death, the area came to be called O'Keeffe County.

Today, however, that identity is shifting — culturally and legally.

There is a move afoot, prompted by Pueblo Indians and Hispanos who've been on the land for centuries, to stop calling it O'Keeffe Country.…