NeaN nanee` (My community members),
My proposal is to continue with the theme of my Native American heritage. It is important for me to connect with my culture so that I may understand my identity as a Shoshone Indian living in a contemporary world. By connecting with my culture it provides a power of self, family, and Native community. Mary Beth Faimon, a professor in social work and director of social work field education at Southwest Minnesota State University stated that when victims of the oppressors confront the traumatic events that took place in their lives “ it demands a social action to bear witness to self-determination and cultural assertions to tell the truth about a forgotten history.”
There is an aspect of my art practice that embraces the current field of social practice, for example: gathering as community, collecting stories, working collaboratively. This of course is not a new practice, but an ancient one and a common way of passing on cultural stories, history, and current events. Before written language, books, and the Internet, there was a coming together of community and a sharing of information. I see how this information, through my art and practice, can be shared with in a tribe, with other native communities and a greater community at large.
I am interested in using traditional materials in contemporary ways and also using materials that are commonly not considered native in ways that affirm aspects of my experience as a Shoshone and active member of the Vancouver and Portland Urban Indian community. Beads, for beadwork that I often use and reference were once traded with tribes by European trappers, but the vigorous application and design work with these beads overtime became distinct native tradition. In reflecting on ancient petroglyphs on stones, rocky hillsides, and caves, it seems like a logical progression to consider how stories might continue to be shared by using the commonly abandon cars that mark the yards, driveways, and fields of many reservation communities. We also have a sense of humor about our rides and ourselves, so this aspect of our collective identity is also reflected in my choice of material.
Ose` dee` deasN hainji (Thank you my female friends and male friends),
May 19
MFA Spring 2011 Proposal
Feb 8
Top Ten
Feb 1
Artist Hachivi Edgar Heap of Birds works in Political dimensions that unify language and images to open a dialogue with historical genocide.“Allowing Native Americans to interpret their future with a totally open perspective shall have a great constructive outcome.” Heap of Birds uses his combative tactics by using street signs and text to address the loss of culture by making the dominant culture question their ancestors and their influences that form misconceptions of Native people. I feel that this artist represent Native people by undertaking historical destructions to validate and heal open wounds.
Feb 1
Artist David Khang plays with language in many forms and functions by shadowing the languages across cultures and time.He seeks out for meaning of mixed breeds of racial types and the mistranslations that occur in time.The themes of his works are the slippages of his generation where the re-inscription of alterations of voices, writings, and images become possible. He uses prosthetics and metaphoric language to underline the construction of his performances and installations.
I like the tension David Khang generates colliding with cross culture language andgeneration survival. By bringing traditional and contemporary languages together it is intended to understand the relationships between races and genders.
My presentation for this Fall Review will be about the process of how I can record the Shoshone legends of my ancestors and experimenting with materials that I can illustrate onto. I have been thinking about how the Shoshone language is slowly dying, ancient symbols of our ancestors are unknown, the sign language are almost extinct and my generation have never heard the Shoshone legends. I want to reintroduce these languages onto contemporary material with illustration using pictogram images onto vehicles and car parts. Also, experimenting with materials that display my identity as a Native American.
Questions:
1. Do you feel that is it important that a non-native needs to understand the images?
2. How can I reach the general audience to participate in my work if it has nothing to do with them?
3. How can I break the “Hollywood” stereotype that portray Native People as stoic “Indians” smothered with sentimentality?
(Source: rochelle.kulei)
Nov 28
PSU MFA Fall Review 2010
Nov 17
Ejapa and the Gwandas is a story about a coyote who longs to have wings like the geese. He eventually convinces the geese for his wings but there are stipulations. First, he must always fly in the middle of their flock he mustn’t draw attention. Second, he must never howl when he flies over the beautiful Native women when they are bathing. He will lose his wings. Being the weak coyote that he is, was unable to control his weakness for women. He lost his wings. The moral of the story is to be grateful for what you do have or when you are given a gift do not be foolish.
"One day, future archeologists sifting through the 20th century remains of American civilization will lift the hood of the buried sarcophagus and reveal who we were by what we left behind."
I’ve been dong some research on Indian Rock art style and Rock art traditions to learn and understand my ancestors’ stories and how they expressed themselves. It is quite interesting how their art blended with all art styles that were contemporaneous and geographically associated and sometimes they would copy motifs form much older styles, thereby bridging the gaps of time.
It is interesting that many Native Artists including myself, continue to blend our contemporary styles and symbols of the past into our work. It’s as if, no it does, our Indian ancestors’ blood continue to run through our veins; never leaving the living. I never really understood why I felt I needed to always throw in a symbol of my culture in the midst of my contemporary art work. For example, I love abstract paintings so when I make these paintings I always feel like I need to bead into the canvas. Not a lot but enough to emphasize that my Indian traditions still lives inside me.
(Source: rochelle.kulei)
