New Native Photography, 2011

THE ARTISTS

Andrea Ashki
Diné

Andrea Ashkie is a native of Pinon on the Navajo Reservation in northeastern Arizona. She had planned to major in psychology but after taking a photography class at Glendale Community College she changed her major to photography and went on to study photography at Arizona State University. Ashkie makes photographs of everyday subjects that are unsentimental yet tender pictures of people and places she knows intimately and cares deeply about, pictures that counteract stereotypical representations of Native American life. In her portfolio called "Bitterwater Women" Ashkie photographed her grandmothers and her great-grandmother whose first clan is Bitterwater, engaged in ordinary activities like washing dishes at a sink and napping on a couch. Ashkie uses straight photography, shooting with a medium format Yashica twin-lens-reflex camera. She has the color film professionally developed, then scans the negatives and prints them as digital inkjet prints. The power of her photographs is in their quiet naturalness. "It's just everyday things I’m shooting," she says.

Andrea Ashkie Artist Statement

I am from the Diné (Navajo) Nation in Northern Arizona. I come from a traditional Diné home that still practices daily rituals and customs of my people. However, these rites have been overshadowed by modern and contemporary ways of western living. This integration of deep-rooted practices and contemporary conventions has attracted me. This manner of living has greatly influenced me in this new series of portraits, in which I photograph the everyday realities of my grandmothers' lives. This ongoing series of works I have titled Bitterwater Women. The title of the series comes from the clan that my grandmothers belong to and embody. Through this work I deconstruct the mythological parameters that are continuously associated with Native Americans by photographing the daily routines of my grandmothers. Just like most grandmothers presently, my grandmothers use a cell phone, drive a vehicle, and take daily naps.

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Paul Weideman "Everyday Wear Andrea Ashkie" in The New Mexican Pasatiempo, Aug. 19-25, 2011
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/EVERYDAY+WEAR%3B+ANDREA+ASHKIE.-a0264699658


Pena Bonita
Apache/Seminole

In Pena Bonita's photographs, everyday scenes of people are coupled with unexpected elements that jolt the viewer into considering that there may be more to life than meets the eye. "On Brighton Beach Boardwalk" was inspired by Chief Seattle's words, "You are not alone." A prosaic couple seated on a seaside bench are suddenly made aware that moving near their feet is a troupe of tiny Indian dancers accompanied by a Kokopelli. "If there's any overriding theme coming from photography of natives, it's this: we are nomads," says Pena. "It seems much of  my work has to do with matters of recording the lives and travails of family. The camera documents fragments that are connected to our understandings of time and place. Nowadays, it seems like a documentation of the growing mechanization of our lives.  When trying to make sense of clichés, chaos and formal training,  it seems necessary to break down fixed boundaries and  explore the relationship between the real world and the point of inquiry as seen though the lens."

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http://amerinda.org/newsletter/7-2/canal.htm  



Waddie CrazyHorse
Cochiti

CrazyColt (a.k.a. Red Dakota “Waddie” CrazyHorse) is a 3rd generation silversmith from Cochiti Pueblo, New Mexico who also makes silver gelatin photographs of ancient Native American sites. His elegant photographs of the silent ruins of Gran Quivira depict the once a vibrant Puebloan village on Chupadera Mesa in central New Mexico. Cameras have fascinated Waddie since he was a boy tinkering with his mother’s dusty, old Nikon SLR. Later he became an avid Canon shooter of landscape panoramas, group portraits and fashion photography. A recent Stanford graduate (B.A., Native American Studies) CrazyHorse plans to obtain his MBA in social entrepreneurship. In his silversmith work Waddie emulates the creations of his master-silversmith grandfather, Joe H. Quintana and his father, Cippy CrazyHorse. He was in the ninth grade the summer he began learning silversmithing. At first he was only allowed to observe and not to “play,” but after three consecutive summers of observational learning, he hammered out a silver ingot that resembled (as he says) a crusty overdone pancake. Eventually, as techniques and skills came together Waddie entered his first piece of work in the youth division of the 2006 SWAIA Indian Market and won a red ribbon.  Today his designs are inspired by pre-1900 Navajo museum pieces as well as his father’s and grandfather’s work, all of which share a common element of simplicity.

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http://waddiecrazyhorse.com



Dayna Danger
Metis Ojibway

Dayna Danger was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan in 1987 and resides in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. She holds B.F.A.with honors from the University of Manitoba. Besides photography she has a background in ceramics and sculpture. Danger was raised as a Catholic and has long been interested in strong female figures from story telling and history. Her recent body of work focuses on "bad girls" and how this term relates to modern society. In her work "Pandora" she associates the Greek mythological "first woman" as combining a mischievous, seductive nature with that of creative earth mother. Dayna just completed a work of study at the Banff Centre, Banff, Alberta, Canada. She is currently mentored by Amber-Dawn Bear Robe through MAWA's foundation mentorship program.Dayna Danger Artist's StatementDigital photography itself is my medium of choice and informs my work. The idea of truth in the photograph is subverted through digital editing in order to create an alternate truth, a pluralistic female narrative. My Catholic upbringing has impressed onto me the idea of an acceptable woman, what they act like, what they look like and how they are portrayed. I use archetypal female characters throughout history, to present a new historical image, one where the female is empowered and in control. These women fascinate me because their stories or history portray them as “bad girls." I consider photography to be a gender-neutral medium, breaking free of the male dominated genre of history painting; I use this medium to convey my images. I reinterpret the history painting genre and the characters portrayed. Women’s sex sanity/insanity, religion, gender, bondage, fetishism and feminism are some subjects I have explored and will continue to explore in more depth.

Links:
http://www.daynadanger.com
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Beckie Etukeok
Inupiaq/Tlingit

Beckie Etukeok lives in Anchorage where she prepares and stores food for the winter months according to traditional ways. Her powerful color photograph titled "Bipsurruk" shows an enormous red salmon that has been scored and hung to dry from a tree. The title, "Bipsurruk" is the word for red salmon in Inupiaq language. The following description of Etukeok's life and work comes from the website ArtsKenai.com:"Beckie Etukeok has worked and apprenticed with many accomplished Alaska Native artists over the years.  The first of her teachers was her Tlingit grandmother; Beckie tagged along as her grandmother conducted her daily routines and rituals.  Beckie remembers well the potlatches they attended.  Her grandmother’s thought processes and her spirituality imbue her.    She revels in this spirituality even as she continues to mature through her art.  Beckie, known as the “Drum Maker,” has traveled extensively around Alaska teaching the art of drum making.Obtaining an Associate Degree of Science in Forestry from Sitka, Beckie worked briefly with the US Forest Service, and as a commercial fisher in Bristol Bay.  Through both work experiences she became at odds with their consumptive character, and knew there must be something else in store for her.  She met carvers Nathan Jackson and Reggie Peterson at the Sitka Cultural Center.  Both have had an impact on her blossoming art spirit.  She traveled around Alaska developing her skills in Native arts, making masks, bentwood boxes and traditional regalia.  However, she realized the art of drum-making excited her the most, but could not find anyone to teach her.  Eagerly, she decided to take it into her own hands and teach herself.  She found some alder and began carving masks.  While working on her front porch, Peter Corey the Director of the Sitka Cultural Center walked by.  Seeing her struggle, he encouraged her to go to Ketchikan Heritage Center to learn drum making and design from Steve Brown.  Off she went to Ketchikan for three months of study.  Later, she studied with Ron Senungetuk at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks’ Institute of Alaska Native Art (IANA).  She especially appreciated the nurturing atmosphere the Institute provided for Alaska Native artists.  She credits this to Ron’s leadership.After eight months of internship with IANA, Beckie accepted the teaching position for the Alaska Native Program for the Arts in Fairbanks’ West Valley High Schools.  She later welcomed the opportunity to work at the Alaska Native Heritage Center in Anchorage, where she now coordinates the high school art program and the Exxon-Mobile Master Artist Program.  For the last seven years, she has competed in numerous state, national, and international ice sculpting competitions in Anchorage and Fairbanks, and has attended several European symposiums in France.  Beckie’s Indian drums, referred to as frame drums by the music world, require a community—at least a network of sorts—to make.  She frequently steam-bends as many as 40-60 wooden drum rims at a time. She first steams the wood in fire-fueled steam boxes and then removes them to be bent over and around molds on which they are dried.  She then removes the rims from the mold to be glued and beveled.  The process continues as she collects, cuts, and soaks the skins to stretch them over the drum rims.  Over the years, Beckie has collected over 45 designs from which she chooses to embellish her drums.  Often, she will add feathers or beads to adorn them as well.  Although Beckie enjoys making masks and bentwood boxes, the drum touches her spirituality.    They serve as portals to the spirit world, balancing the energies of those who experience not only their sound but also their vibration.  She considers them to be worthy of honor and respect.  She imparts this whenever she makes, teaches about, shares or beats her drums."   

Links:
http://www.artskenai.com/gallery_virtual.asp?CAT_ID=5&offset=18
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John Feodorov
Diné

John Feodorov, an art professor at Western Washington University, Fairhaven College, grew up in the city of Whittier, near Los Angeles. He earned his BFA in Painting and Drawing at California State University, Long Beach and his MFA in Visual Art from Vermont College. Today he lives in Seattle and works as a mixed media artist in painting, drawing, installation and occasionally video. Feodorov is interested in how spirituality and identity are commodified within consumer culture. His work is imbued with biting satire, such as in the inkjet print titled "Collectibles #11" in which a faceless Native woman in traditional dress (his late aunt) stands in front of a giant satellite dish. Typed words at the top read: "A stunning replica of a powerful instrument of prayer and ritual." In "Collectibles" Feodorov is lampooning magazine and direct mail collectibles advertised by the Bradford Exchange and other companies that market kitschy Native American figurines that are often connected to an animal spirit. He is currently working on a series of large paintings loosely based on the BP oil spill.

John Feodorov Artist Statement
Collectibles

“Collectibles” is an on-going series of prints based upon the wealth of bizarre advertising copy that finds itself into popular magazines and junk mail, feeding an apparent desire for exotic, spiritual and sexy Native Americans who are continually accompanied by spirits of wolves or eagles. The prints utilize old photographs of my family members (faces obscured) combined with selected quotes from advertisements for "Indian Style" porcelain figurines directly taken from the websites of The Bradford Exchange and similar manufacturers of kitsch objects. A Navajo rug weave pattern is superimposed over the photographs to underscore issues of authenticity and cultural commoditization. This project is part of my continued interest in how we desperately search for connection and meaning in our lives, often looking for new insights and answers outside of our own cultural moment. The prints are intended to question these desires for the exotic and spiritual "Other" as well as the efforts of some to commodify their own culture. While on the surface the series addresses the appropriation and misreading of Native American spirituality, it is my hope that it will also motivate the viewer to reflect upon their own desires for connection, meaning and identity.

Ref: Kathaleen Roberts "Sharp Edginess" in The Albuquerque Journal/Arts, Aug. 28, 2011

Links:
http://www.johnfeodorov.com/
http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/feodorov/
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http://artandpoliticsnow.blogspot.com/2009/07/john-feodorovs-spiritual-amibituitites.html
 

Peggy Fontenot
Potawatomi/Patawomeck/Cherokee

Peggy Fontenot's work is concerned with a host of social issues facing contemporary American Indians and veterans. Her portrait titled "Robert Banks: Cherokee Freedman," is from the series "Merging Cultures and Surviving Assimilation: The Contemporary Native American" which is about the interwoven histories of African Americans and Native Americans. One of her large-scale projects, "The Living Wall," combines photography and oral history to honor living servicemen and women.

Peggy Fontenot Artist Statement
Surviving Assimilation

The Contemporary Native AmericanAs the nineteenth century ended, the prevailing view among whites was that Indians should be absorbed as rapidly as possible into the dominant society: their reservations broken up, tribal authority abolished, traditional religions and languages eradicated. Late nineteenth-century federal policy embodied this attitude. In 1871, Congress declared that tribes were no longer separate, independent governments. It placed tribes under the guardianship of the federal government. The 1887 Dawes Act allotted reservation lands to individual Indians in units of 40 to 160 acres. Land that remained after allotment was to be sold to whites to pay for Indian education.In an attempt to document these vanishing people and their culture, Edward Curtis spent 30 years photographing the North American Indians. My photography documents the exact opposite of that of Edward Curtis. My images portray the strength of the Indigenous people to survive as individuals, as clans, and as tribes, while fighting governmental bounties, forced removals, germ warfare, and assimilation. These photographs prove that assimilation, for the most part, did not, and will not, work.

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http://www.thundermountainmonument.com/Peggy%20Fontenot.htm
Paul Weideman "Veteran Photographer; Peggy Fontenot" in The Santa Fe New Mexican Pasatiempo, Aug. 19-25, 2011
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/VETERAN+PHOTOGRAPHER%3B+PEGGY+FONTENOT.-a0264699643
http://mustangdaily.net/award-winning-photography-exhibit-brings-native-american-awareness-to-cal-poly/


Shan Goshorn
Eastern Cherokee

Shan Goshorn is a multimedia artist and activist living in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Her work "Kituwah Motherland" shows the Kituwah Mound in North Carolina, sacred to the Cherokee, which was being threatened by the proposed construction of an electric substation. In another work called "High Stakes; Tribes' Choice" a heavy application of colorful glitter has been glued onto a portrait of a young Indian man symbolizing the tension between the "glitz" of tribal casinos verses what some might consider more important features of traditional Native life.Shan Goshorn Artist StatementI feel bound as a native artist to use my work as a commentary on contemporary social issues unique to Indian people - issues like mascots and stereotypes, repatriation, gaming and sovereignty. These are heady topics, fraught with confrontation and charged with emotion. To balance this volatile activism, I rely on the grounding strength of our traditional teachings.

My passion for obtaining human rights for all has remained steadfast over the years, but as I have aged I have found that I am as impressed with the power of persuasion as I am with defiant opposition. I believe that there is a place for confrontation but I am seeing success converting racist ideas when led by progressive thinkers who use respect and gentle humor as skillfully as any protest march. Lately, when I feel the pressures of a stressed out society, I have been especially drawn back to the restorative inspiration of the natural world. Two examples of such calming influence in my work are Blue Stem Thicket and August Dance, both from a recent corporate commission. The digital file was stretched more than twice its original length, printed on canvas to measure 4’ X 12.5’ and hand-tinted to enhance the feel of these spiritual places. As a self-supporting artist for over 25 years, corporate commissions are a main source of income for me. Luckily, I do not feel that these collaborations with clients, designers and architects are in conflict with the mission of my exhibition work. I love this opportunity to impact people that I would not ordinarily reach in a gallery or museum setting. Most of all, I am grateful to be able to share the wisdom of ancient teachings by creating a space that encourages audiences to take a deep, grounding breath.

Links:
http://www.shangoshorn.com
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Maria Hupfield
Anishnaabe Ojibway

Maria Hupfield is an inter-disciplinary artist from Canada who uses photography and performance to declare her "timeless" presence. Sporting a long braid she photographs herself in various locations as 'Lady Moonrider', a silver-suited time traveler who has appeared in Times Square and other prominent locations. Hupfield is of Anishnaabe (Ojibway) heritage, and a member of Wasauksing First Nation in Ontario. She is based out of Brooklyn, New York.Maria Hupfield Artist StatementMy work evidences the body as a site of resistance and agency through the use of actions, objects and images. I am interested in the body, how we occupy space, the way we relate to one another and our environment physically and through objects. I present the ordinary in new configurations in an effort to shift thinking around the familiar and create new spaces of possibility and understanding in relationship to where we place ourselves in this world.

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http://mariahupfield.wordpress.com/
http://blogs.eciad.ca/mariahupfield
https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=224302290917784


James 'Jack' Johnson
Pumuncatuck

Jack Johnson served in the Marines and in law enforcement before he began his career in studio filmmaking. His photograph "Planning Ahead," is a portrait of his cousin, a fellow service woman, posing beside her own granite headstone. She passed away in 2008.Jack Johnson Artist StatementI believe that film is the only way to tell the complete truth - film does not lie. As a young Marine I went off to war where I spent most of my time guarding air strips and ammo dumps, carrying troops all the way from Chui Lai to Phubi. Being in the lead gun truck, I was able to take all the pictures I wanted as long as I didn’t get caught. I sent the film home to my father, some of which got lost along the way. Once he developed the film he was able to see for himself what I was doing. After coming home I went into law enforcement where I used my camera to document my work. A few years later, I moved to Southern California where I got a job in the film industry. I spent the next 37 years making films, rock videos, and documentaries. I have traveled all over the world working with film. The last 15 years I have been working to document as much of my Native American history as I can. Film is the true storyteller.

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Jinniibaah Manuelito
Diné

Jinniibaah Manuelito lives in Santa Fe where she studied at the Institute of American Indian Art. Her series "Diné Freedom" plays with the idea of the Statue of Liberty as a Navajo woman who drops in on contemporary festivals. In "Shiprock Fair" Manuelito playfully superimposed an enormous Diné version of the Statue of Liberty into a photograph of the Shiprock Fair, an innovative double symbol of American/Indian identity looming over the crowds and a giant Tilt-a-Whirl ride.Ref: Kathaleen Roberts "Sharp Edginess" in The Albuquerque Journal/Arts, Aug. 28, 2011Jinniibaah Manuelito Artist StatementIdentity is very important to me and so is my art as it grows with me. What you see in all my photos are ideas of my culture conflicted with western influences. It is part of Diné philosophy to balance out your life so there are two of everything, a male and female. I respect cultural traditions but so much of it is either forgotten or changed. The Navajo Nation has become more modern but so many people still look to the past. I think to myself everyday about bringing back some of those lost events and listen to the stories that my family tells me. I want to preserve and protect the idea that we are indigenous. I need that relationship with mother earth and understand how to make the world stable for our future generations.Ya'at'eeh to all my relations. My name is Jini'bah (Walks Like A Lady Warrior) Cowboy Manuelito. I am born for Kinyannii (Towering House Clan) and my second clan is Tlogi (Weaver-Zia or Hairy Ones Clan). My third clan is Bit'ahnii (His Sheaves... Leaf clan...Under His Cover clan) and fourth is To'ahani (Near the Water clan). My parents are Alice and Sherman Manuelito from Crownpoint, NM. I live here in Santa Fe and travel a lot to my parents' house. I have a bachelor's degree in photography and graduated from The Institute of American Indian Arts 2008. Photography is my muse and I learned that it is not just only black and white. This media can be expressed with limitless possibilities only if you have imagination. I used the practice of fine art photography and combine it with present imagery. My artwork is argumentative and yet they can be combined to make a paradox. Part of my creativity is photos and drawings from previous work all layered and flatten together in Photoshop. I have photos and negatives from family members who are also a part of my work. Kinship is an important part of my character and knowing my inheritance is a part of who I am. My photos express who I am, what I want, where I’m from, how I feel and why I am.

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Mihio Manus
Diné/Cherokee/Omaha

Mihio Manus was trained as a photographer and journalist and now works as the editor of the Gila River Indian News in Arizona. He became fascinated by punk music and began to document bands and their performances, producing powerful portraits such as that of Danny Johnson, a vocalist for the group Magnum Force. Manus describes the camera as being an extension of his mind and body, as invaluable as an arm or leg. According to his website: "At 54 years old, Mihio Manus is a noticeable attendee at any local 10+ -attendee art dork musical extravaganza. His weathered skin, sagging down around lips that have not seen a smile in decades, causes those he photographs to stare intently into his sorrow-filled eyes and wonder, just for a moment; 'Am I giving anything to this man’s life by posing for him? By exploiting myself so he can make fast cash? His soul is vacuous; this money will not make him happy.' Deep in the Appalachian town of Flagstaff, Arizona, in an underground lair known as “The Lair,” Manus diligently hand-weaves all his cameras from a combination of velvet and kitten intestines. He is rarely seen during the day, and at night he is only seen in situations where there is a chance he can make a quick buck. Inspired by artists such as Rothko and Jim Davis, and authors such as Gloria Anzaldua and Richard Rodriguez, Manus’ work encapsulates a bleak landscape of adolescent depravity, alienation, and desperation. It is the hopeless that inhabit his 35mm world; the dejected, confused, egocentric, and hateful. By expanding his easel in the darkroom, expanding it past the size of the actual projected negative, thus blurring and blackening the edges of his primarily black and white photographs; Manus is able to give the illusion of a controlled chaos. With every photograph he uploads onto the world-wide-web (which can be found at www.internet.com), Manus cries out for help. 'Show me how to work this easel!' he silently screams into the dim orange light of the darkroom. Somewhere between the fixer and the stop bath Manus dwells, in the lonely monotony of a room where the walls are painted black."

Links:
http://www.mihiomanus.com/


Da-ka-xeen Mehner
Tlingit

Da-ka-xeen Mehner is an Assistant Professor of Native Arts at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and the director of the UAF Native Arts Center. His recent work deals with the tensions between the oil industry in Alaska and native cultures whose access to resources and sites is being adversely affected by the industry.Born in Fairbanks, Alaska to a Tlingit/N'ishga mother and an American father, Da-ka-xeen was raised in two environments, as an urban Native in Anchorage, and as the child of rural Hippies living off the grid in Fairbanks. From the steel and concrete of his Labor Union father, to the crook knife and cedar of his Alaska Native ancestors, Da-ka-xeen's artwork and choice of materials reflects his multicultural heritage. In an expanded view of "tradition," Da-ka-xeen uses the tools and skills of photography that were passed down to him from his maternal uncles. His art works explore the constructs of Native American identity, as well as an attempt to define the Self outside of those constructs. Da-ka-xeen received his A.A. from the Institute of American Indian Arts, and his B.F.A. from the University of New Mexico. From 1994-2000 he served as the founder and director of Site 21/21, a contemporary art gallery in Albuquerque, NM, and was a founding member/owner of the Fort 105 Art Studios in downtown Albuquerque in 1998. Da-ka-xeen returned to Alaska in 2000 and earned his M.F.A in Native Arts from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. His work in photography and sculpture has been exhibited from New York to California; Alaska to New Mexico. Collections include the Anchorage Museum of History and Art, the University of Alaska Museum of the North (Fairbanks, AK), and the Institute of American Indian Arts Museum (Santa Fe, NM), and the Alaska State Museum (Juneau, AK) and the C.N. Gorman Museum (Davis CA). His work has been featured in numerous publications and blogs, including the art magazines Sculpture and American Indian Art.

Da-ka-xeen Mehner Artist Statement

Right-of-Way
(My Relationship with the Alaskan Landscape)

I began this series in 2009 with the diptych, My Right-of-Way summer and winter. Being from Alaska, I find the landscape I live in to be a land of extremes. Spring and fall are so short that I have always felt that Alaska has only two seasons; summer, where it often reaches 90 degrees Fahrenheit under the midnight sun, and winter, where it can drop to 40 degrees below zero for dark weeks on end. This land is a place of stark winter whites and incredible summer color. The Alaskan landscape is so diverse that when I contemplate my relationship to the land, it is complex. Whether it’s working on the oil fields of Prudhoe Bay, or subsistence fishing on the Copper River; berry picking along the Alaskan pipeline right-of -way, building my house, or tending the garden in the back yard, the land gives me a rich experience that is unique to Alaska. In Alaska, we have a boom or bust economy that reflects the extremes of the climate. Seasonal construction or fishing jobs fill our pockets during the summer and come winter many peck away at the savings, just as we fill our freezers with salmon, and moose, and berries from the land and pull from the freezer all winter.

The landscape I know is inextricably tied to oil; its presence is as much a part of the landscape as the rocks or the trees. In creating these pieces, I aim to reflect that relationship. Some of the images are from my time working in Prudhoe Bay, a stark oil field at the very top of Alaska, and the beginning of the 800 mile long Trans Alaskan Pipeline. Although I never directly worked for an oil company, I worked on the support structures for the oil industry. Working on the States’ Deadhorse Airport reconstruction project and putting in fiber optic cable along the northern portion of the Trans-Alaskan Pipeline right-of-way, I know the money I earned was indirectly oil money. Seeing herds of wild muskox and caribou alongside the oil fields is part of my understanding of Alaska. The right-of-way for the pipeline is just a few miles from my home in Fairbanks, Alaska. Beneath what looks to be a country road is a 48” pipe that pumps 592,597 barrels of oil per day down to Valdez. I find the right-of- way to be a nice walking area and an excellent blueberry picking area. The berries my family has gathered for the year comes from the pipeline road. My relationship with the land is intertwined with the pipeline that runs the length of Alaska. Like many in Alaska, my father helped to build the pipeline itself, and my family benefited directly from its development. The ability to be self-sufficient in Alaska is a characteristic attributed to my multicultural Alaskan family. I see the beauty in this landscape, with its scars, wounds, and bounty as part of the whole.

Links:
Email
http://www.da-ka-xeen.com/
http://da-ka-xeen.blogspot.com/ 


Kimowan Metchewais
Cree

Kimowan Metchewais, who died of cancer on July 29, 2011 at age 47, incorporated photography into his multimedia creations along with drawing, painting and video. He used photography in unorthodox ways that involved no prints and no frames, pushing the boundary of both the medium and of portraiture. His works "Shooter, War Pony" and "Triggered" were exhibited in the New Native Photography show. In "Triggered" he cut up Polaroid photos, resized them and reconnected them with Scotch tape. "War Pony" is a photograph of a rusted out Porsche with what may be Cree language hand written above it.   Metchewais believed that beauty and a sincere message could be conveyed with "radical simplicity," a quality he felt exemplified Native Culture. "I believe it is a good time to share essential lessons about the oldest cultures on this continent," he wrote. His prestigious awards included a national award from the Canadian Aboriginal Arts Foundation, the Ellen Battel Stoekel Fellowship from Yale and an Individual Artist Fellowship from the North Carolina Arts Council. Notable exhibitions included Chelsea Art Museum in New York, the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia and the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art. A member of the Cold Lake First Nations from Alberta, Canada, Metchewais attended graduate school at the University of New Mexico and went on to become a professor of art at the University of North Carolina. In 2007 he became paraplegic on his left side following brain surgery for cancer. In 2008 he was the subject of a film called Grow All Over Again, by Christina Wegs that documented his struggles with his identity and art making after the surgery damaged his feeling and movement functions.  When working in the studio became too difficult Metchewais used Facebook as his gallery, setting up portfolios such as "Cree beadwork and modern color tactics" and "Old Indians with Eyewear, Etc." along with photo portraits of himself and friends.Hulleah Tsinhahjinnie said of his work: "Kimowan's creative spirit did not hesitate about living with death, and it was with a genuine thoughtfulness he has bequeathed his digital presence so that we may consider our own existence."

Ref: Kathaleen Roberts "Sharp Edginess" in The Albuquerque Journal/Arts, Aug. 28, 2011
Paul Weideman "Magical elixir Kimowan Metchewais" in The New Mexican Pasatiempo Aug. 19-25, 2011

Kimowan Metchewais Artist Statement

I try to make art that moves lightly through the world to exemplify qualities of Native North American culture, especially those aspects that often go unnoticed, despite their importance. I believe it is a good time to share essential lessons about the oldest cultures on this continent. My modern studio art practice has helped to me hone my message – that we can make grant beauty and sincere rhetoric with radical simplicity.I tend to think of art as a form of magic, except, unlike the work of illusionists, the cause for effect is laid bare for the viewer to see and still works; whereas, once the magician’s trick is known, the effect no longer works. I am in search of elegant solutions to challenges of narrative in space. I make objects and work in ways that exemplify tenets of my culture – taking nothing more than needed, while making places and experiences that help people expand their notions of humanity and how it is located within a cosmos.So my two favorite sayings are, “living off the fat of the land” and “working smarter, not harder.” I have a dire need to tell people that much can be made with little as an antidote to the thoughtless consumerism and excessive draw from Earth’s resources.

Links:
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/MAGICAL+ELIXIR%3B+KIMOWAN+METCHEWAIS.-a0264699659



Vicki Monks
Chii-Navajo, Yuchi, Chippewa Anishinabe

Vicki Monks is a prolific multimedia freelancer from Oklahoma who works as a writer, reporter, photographer, and radio and TV producer. As a young TV reporter in Oklahoma City, she covered the Karen Silkwood/Kerr-McGee case. A member of the Chickasaw tribe, Monks taught at the University of Oklahoma's Gaylord College of Journalism, was a professional journalism fellow at Stanford University, and a Ted Scripps environmental journalism fellow at the University of Colorado. Her articles and documentaries have tackled global environmental subjects from the deforestation of Irian Jaya in Indonesia, to the problem of plastic trash in the ocean, to radioactive runoff from the forest fire that swept through the Los Alamos National Laboratory near her home, to the worldwide problems of endocrine-disrupting chemicals. Her work has appeared on National Public Radio, BBC Radio, CBS' 60 Minutes, PBS online, National Geographic Television, National Wildlife Magazine, Vogue, Rolling Stone and American Journalism Review. Her long list of national and international awards include the Prix Italia award for radio reporting on ecology, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting Gold Award and the George Foster Peabody award for television reporting. Currently, she is writing a book about modern Indians and environmental threats to Indian lands 100 years after Oklahoma statehood.For the New Native Photography exhibit Monks exhibited a work from her series "Mixed Indian," portraits of Native Americans who are descended from multiple tribes, a cultural shift that came about due to many factors, including federal policy, boarding schools, activism, and pow wows. Families often face the difficult decision of which tribe to enroll a child. Though this issue can be divisive the artist notes that it has also resulted in greater unity among Native Americans.

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Beverly Singer
Tewa/Diné

Beverly Singer is an award-winning filmmaker and writer whose video productions have explored the subject of wellness among women, children, and Native communities. Active in media for two decades, she is a founding member of the Native American Producers Alliance and author of a book on Native American independent filmmaking called "Wiping the War Paint Off the Lens." Singer says of Native media today, "I am so encouraged by recognizing that ... really strong aesthetic tribal images are starting to come forward." She serves as the Director of the Alfonso Ortiz Center for Intercultural Studies at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. In her pigment print titled "Clothesline at Kha'po" Singer photographed laundry drying outside at Kha'po (Santa Clara Pueblo), a commonplace scene suddenly made poignant by the devastating forest fires that burned 150,000 acres in the Santa Fe National Forest including Santa Clara Canyon in the summer of 2011.Beverly Singer Artist StatementAbout these digital images: maybe, it was the smoky brown, gray, red and yellow hues or the taste of ash in my mouth from the Los Conchas wildfire burning a few miles west of Kha’po Owingeh (Santa Clara Pueblo) for the past two weeks that has me reminiscing about the aftermath of this mean fire that charred Santa Clara Canyon destroying our watershed. The stifling heat and wicked wind that oppressed also has me yearning for a time before now. These images with the exception of one village scene were taken along the foothills of the bottom road to Santa Clara Canyon where before the fire I walked, jogged, and thought about how to be in the world. I hang my wash outside to dry on a clothesline all year long, but during the past two weeks since late June into early July 2011 during the fire, I didn’t even bother to wash laundry. The rains have come and the smoky air in my nostrils is gone. It’s not over yet as we prepare for floodwater from the canyon possibly forcing an evacuation of the community. I have no other place on earth that is home and nowhere else I want to go.

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http://www.nativenetworks.si.edu/eng/rose/singer_b.htm
http://hidvl.nyu.edu/video/000512570.html
http://www.wmm.com/filmcatalog/makers/fm52.shtml


Valentina Sireech
Northern Ute

Valentina Sireech studied art at the Institute for American Indian Art and the Savannah College of Art and Design. She lives in Utah and is interested in social environmental, and identity issues. Her work calls attention to the epidemic of Type II Diabetes that is rampant in Native communities.Valentina Sireech Artist StatementI've attempted to raise greater awareness and discussion concerning cultural survival for Tribal communities throughout the United States. In 2010, I photographed the Eastern Band of Cherokee Nation, in hopes of addressing the over commercialization and appropriation (or, better yet misappropriation) of a culture by, economics, social, and environmental impact of tourism. These images explore exploitation-for-profit and to address what is truly at stake: identity, culture and authenticity.My desire for this body of work is to encourage dialogue on re-defining perception within a homogenized society.

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Richard Ray Whitman
Yuchi

Richard Ray Whitman studied art at the Institute for American Indian Art, the California Institute of the Arts, and the Oklahoma School of Photography. His work in photography has often explored the stereotypes and social problems associated with Native life, although in the series "Bloodlines" he focuses on symbols of strength and perseverance. The artist is also a well-known film actor.

RICHARD RAY WHITMAN
By Jennifer G. Vigil (IAIA)
http://www.iaia.edu/museum/vision-project/artists/richard-ray-whitman/

Yuchi and Creek painter, photographer, poet, actor and filmmaker Richard Ray Whitman was born May 14, 1949 in Claremore, Oklahoma. He graduated from the Institute of American Indian Arts in 1970 and studied at the California Institute of the Arts in 1972. His participation in the 1973 People’s Struggle at Wounded Knee had a profound impact, galvanizing his commitment to his role as an artist and a tribal citizen. His activism resulted in numerous artist residencies in public and alternative schools from the late 1980s through the 1990s. As an artist-in-residence with the Oklahoma Arts Council he worked with Oklahoma City’s Native American Center’s youth-at-risk program. Whitman has also worked with youth offenders, teaching rehabilitative arts therapy in state correctional institutions.Whitman’s 1970’s – 1980’s photographic series, Street Chiefs, documents homeless urban Native people in Oklahoma. The 1952 Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Employment Assistance Program urged thousands of Native people to relocate to urban areas where presumably jobs and housing awaited. The BIA’s objectives were for participants to integrate into mainstream American culture and to abandon their traditional Native ways. While approximately 35,000 Native people relocated, by 1960, a third returned to the reservations. Many that remained failed to find the “success” promised, lacked the community safety net reservations and tribal culture afforded and found themselves homeless and destitute in their new urban homes. Whitman’s portraits documenting the program’s legacy (homelessness) speak not just to the realities of urban Native people, but illustrate the long and ongoing displacement of Indigenous people upon which America was built (specifically the removal of tribes from the southeast to Oklahoma).  Buy Oklahoma (1986) juxtaposes the “street chief” (a homeless Native person in the foreground) with the romanticized billboard image of a chief wearing a headdress alongside a cowboy that urges people to “buy Oklahoma.” Whitman’s image addresses the irony of Native Americans being used for tourism and marketing without gaining any financial rewards.Whitman employs various strategies and incorporates multiple media to address issues of identity (personal and tribal), sovereignty, survival (personal and cultural), Indian removal, social change, language preservation and historical amnesia. While his critiques are poignant, peeling back the veneer revealing the painful realities of Indigenous life, the underlying message is one of resistance, survival and cultural vibrancy. He challenges the notion that Native peoples are extinct while revealing the continued assaults against Indigenous people, their land and their way of life by the United States and its citizens.This inequality is eloquently illustrated in his installation Dirt Poor, Oil Rich, 2008. Here, the rod of an oil-pump jack in the center of the room impales the partially buried body of a brown-skinned mannequin with a buffalo skull. The piece addresses the ongoing theft of mineral royalties owed to Oklahoma Native landowners as a result of mismanagement and malfeasance of the BIA Indian trust accounts. As Whitman notes in the accompanying artist statement, “Dirt Poor, Oil Rich reflects [my] continuing frustration with the political and economic forces that too-often result in Indian people becoming homeless in their own land.”

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Ray_Whitman
http://www.iaia.edu/museum/vision-project/artists/richard-ray-whitman/