Indigenous Research & Knowledges in North America

Acrylic on canvas, glass beads, hematite, obsidian arrowhead, amethyst, nylon thread, artificial sinew, inset to custom wood frame
70.2 x 64.5 x 6.5cm
(27 5/8 x 25 3/8 x 2 1/2in)

'Bunny Landscape No. 1' by Adrain Chesser and Timothy White Eagle (Shasta and Mohave CRIT) is an extended photographic ritual project. It was conceived as a transformative rite of passage. The landscape images in the series were made during a vulnerable time on a road trip back to the PNW, across the U.S. Chesser notes, "The landscape in a general way has always brought me such peace especially at dusk... Whenever I would feel vulnerable, I would embody the alter ego Bunny and perform a ritual with the intention of transforming the vulnerability into a strength... I performed Bunny rituals all the way across the U.S. just to stave off the despair." This artwork is part of a curated collection of Northwest-based artists by Dawna Holloway at the UW Medical Center Northwest in North Seattle, Western Washington. The local art selection committee wanted artworks that would create a welcoming, peaceful environment for the patient floors of the new Behavioral Health Teaching facility. The photographs were printed onto Acrovyn, an industrial wall covering. They span floor-to-ceiling to bring lush nature inside, transforming the residents’ sterile surroundings.

Wendy Red Star, Catalogue Number 1948.102, from the series Accession, 2019, pigment print on paper, image: 18 × 28 in. (45.7 × 71.1 cm) sheet: 19 × 29 in. (48.3 × 73.7 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 2021.47.8, © 2019, Wendy Red Star

Raven Chacon, For Candice Hopkins, from the series For Zitkála-Šá, 2020, lithograph on paper, sheet and image: 11 in. × 8 1⁄2 in. (27.9 × 21.6 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Julia D. Strong Endowment, 2022.7.1.5, © 2019-2020, Raven Chacon

1974. Sculpture. Burlap, fabric, polyester batting, dried corn, leather thongs, beaded leather bands, necklaces, book (God Is Red by Vine Deloria Jr.), pheasant wings, American flag, beaded hide moccasins, two framed ink and graphite pencil drawings, Masonite cradleboard, animal hide, sheepskin and fleece, bird feet, wood chair, and painted plywood

Cara Romero (Chemehuevi) collaborated with her model, Kaa Folwell, an artist from a renowned family of Santa Clara potters, to develop this image that personifies the spirit “Clay Lady.” Clay Lady provides Tewa potters with clay. She represents empowerment, and though she is warm and inviting, she is unpredictable when fired. Folwell’s hair, captured at 1/8000 of a second, embodies the moment clay chemically changes to a hard solid. The Ancestral Puebloan design overlaying her body represents “how the spirit of clay . . . [is] passed down . . . through thousands of years,” Romero says. “There’s a way to do figurative art and to empower ourselves . . . I think it’s a . . . powerful shift for a woman to be behind the camera.”

2023. Acrylic on canvas. 48" x 75.5"

Kent Monkman (b. 1965) is an interdisciplinary Cree visual artist. A member of Fisher River Cree Nation in Treaty 5 Territory (Manitoba), he lives and works in New York City and Toronto. Known for his thought-provoking interventions into Western European and American art history, Monkman explores themes of colonization, sexuality, loss, and resilience—the complexities of historic and contemporary Indigenous experiences—across painting, film/video, performance, and installation.

"Recently Heap of Birds created a fifty-foot signature, outdoor sculpture titled: "Wheel," as a signature entrance piece at Daniel Liebeskind's addition to the Denver Museum of Art. The circular porcelain enamel on steel work was commissioned by The Denver Art Museum and is inspired by the traditional Medicine Wheel of the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming." (Native Wiki)