We are proud to present the Fall 2021 Visual Nation art exhibition! Using materials ranging from glass beads to brass ammunition casings to backpacks to Bibles, Haskell Indian Nations University art students from over two dozen different tribal traditions, were asked research and respond to a theme they’re passionate about. Some practiced artistic rituals of healing and remembrance, while others wanted to document important people and objects. Still others just wanted to paint! Everyone persevered through this unprecedented and confusing time, which makes this work even more remarkable. The 30 works loosely circle around these themes: creation stories, spirituality, humor, rage, MMIW, residential schools, and loss. Please take care. This is just a sample of artwork HINU students created this semester. For more, please visit our Instagram @hinuarts.
Cover and facing image: Sky Woman Series, “Worlds Divide” and “Arrival,” by Miranda Bradford.
Alia Ballou Navajo & Cherokee
Room for Rosemary Wheelchair, bed, and a flower-decorated walker in the doorway. This is a tribute to a former resident at the nursing home I work for. I’m a natural caregiver and I love what I do. I have built relationships with many of the residents, especially Rosemary. Rosemary is of the Tlingit tribe, and is also an alumnus of Haskell! We shared many stories. She introduced me to her family, and I was gifted some sockeye from Alaska which is smoked salmon. The reason I admire her is not only because we share the same skin. I love her independence and determination. When I first met Rosemary, she was bound to a wheelchair, but she worked hard every day with that physical therapist and was able to walk out of the facility with the help of her walker.
Tyran Banks Kiikaapoa KTK Rez Slang Glow Sticks and LED Light
I’m inspired by Bruce Nauman’s neon work. We call our reservation “Krez” because there is another reservation south of us called “Prez” referring to the Potawatomi Reservation. I created this installation because it will be recognized by Indigenous people from Kansas.
Peyton Beaver Muscogee Creek The Creator is watching Brass ammunition casings and cedar
Everything is connected and under the watch to the Creator’s Hand, which is told in my culture to be always watching either in peace or war: the eye of the hand is watching us.
Joshua Bender Mvskoke The Overseer Pen on index card (3”x5”)
This Being has many names such as God or Creator. This Overseer watches over the land and its people.
Miranda Bradford Citizen Potawatomi Nation
Sky Woman Series (“The Fall” “Worlds Divide” “Arrival”) Digital Photography. Model: Jula Harjo (Mvskoke, Choctaw and Ho-Chunk) I first took inspiration from Robin Wall Kimmerer’s book Braiding Sweetgrass. As I read the story of Sky Woman, I realized it was the first time I was told a traditional story directly from another member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation Tribe. The book begins with an origin story: a woman falling through a hole in the Sky World, grabbing life-sustaining resources on her way down to Earth. This series portrays Sky Woman as she tumbles from one world to the next, not knowing where she’ll end up but still grabbing on to her means of survival. The symbolism is linear to the birth of my relationship with my heritage. Although I was not raised with any connection to my tribe, Haskell has allowed me the opportunity to reestablish my roots, so I can pass this knowledge on to my son and future generations. I am very inspired by the opportunity to help preserve and reignite links to our ancestors and their ways of living.
Kaleb Brave Eagle Oglala Lakota Unexpected Wedding Guest Digital collage I’m inspired by Steven Paul Judd’s remixed Edward Curtis prints. Curtis was an American photographer who would stage photographs to depict the “vanishing race.” He would provide props like wigs and blankets if his models did not look “native” enough. Artists today remix Curtis’s prints to battle that stereotype of the “vanishing race.” I used Curtis’s print “The Wedding Party,” from The North American Indian, Vol. 10, The Kwakiutl (1915). I remixed it with a video game character from Apex Legends named Bloodhound because Bloodhound’s costume is a raven, and ravens are important to people in the Northwest.
Dominique Brown Navajo
Two women Photography. Models: Siona Astorga (Northern Arapaho, Northern Cheyenne and Navajo) Angela Astorga (Northern Arapaho, Northern Cheyenne and Navajo) Here are two beautiful young Native American women. Everyday Native women are being taken away from us, and in this pictures I wanted to capture strength and beauty and also the color red. Red is powerful. We are powerful.
Jana Burnett Osage Lost Digital collage My piece is heavily inspired by Hulleah Tsinhnahjinnie’s digital works and Rebecca Belmore’s tributes to missing Indigenous women. Research shows homicide rates are six times higher for Indigenous women than for white women, and yet, only 30% of Indigenous homicide victims get newspaper media coverage, as compared to 51% of White homicide victims, and Indigenous female homicide victims had the least amount of newspaper media coverage (18%). Knowing these statistics and facts is infuriating considering the recent widespread media coverage and search for Gabby Petito (not pictured). Every missing person’s case should be treated as Petito’s.
Michael Conard Mvskoke Creek Nation Bundle Mixed media I like backpacks and bundles, and I was inspired by Natalie Ball who creates “visual archives” and power objects by bundling items that meant something to her. The result is unsettling yet familiar.
Grayson Dyer Potawatomi/Choctaw Untitled Mixed media
The silver and pink backpack symbolizes a child born into the fast fashion industry and forced to work in a sweatshop. The destruction of the backpack reflects the devastation the fast fashion industry has on innocent lives.
Kaya Friday Northern Arapaho Words Full of Hair Mixed Media
My work explores the meaning of hair cutting. Growing up I was told to take care of my hair as it was a part of me. Hair carries our thoughts, and cutting it can mean a death, a new beginning, getting rid of negativity, or regret.
Arianna Green Cheyenne and Arapaho ACKNOWLEDGE THIS Mixed Media
I wanted to spotlight Indigenous people against darkness, and I decided to cover everyone’s mouths with a red handprint to honor Missing and Murdered Indigenous People.
Wakiyan Wi Irving Oglala Lakota & Prairie Band Potawatomi Lakota Designs Pencil, paper Inspired by Jason Lujan’s collages, I mixed together different Lakota designs to create something new. You’ll see these on regalia, jewelry, and skirts. The designs include Wahúkheza Ská or “White lance,” Kimímela or “Butterfly,” Wanblí Hokšíla or “Eagle Boy,” Iŋyaŋ Hokšíla “Rock Boy,” Pté Oyáte “Buffalo Nation,” Oglála “Scatters Their Own,” and Wičáhpi Hokšíla Wičhiŋča which means “Star Boy and Girl.”
Kiana Johns-Curley Navajo Dancing Star Mixed Media
The focal point of my artwork is the jingle dress dancer. All my life I grew up dancing. My mom always got me ready and my sister braided my hair. I never thought those memories would be my favorite and now I crave the feeling. It brings me closer to my culture and my family. I hope the younger generation and mine keep these traditions alive.
Christiana Johnson Alabama-Coushatta The Change acrylic on canvas
Today, we must make changes even if that means leaving home to attend college or to make a career for ourselves. My painting illustrates a story of my people, when we took the ashes of our ceremonial fire and migrated west. We looked to the stars to help guide us through the trees. To survive, we traveled at night using the brightness of the moon to get through enemy territory. My people say that it took six summers to get to the place we now call home, and that even as we change, we can dance and celebrate who we are.
Kyonia Kanagawa Oklahoma Nation and Mississippi Choctaw Eyes Digital (triptych) A hand-written letter to my mentor, Meryl McMaster, separates two self-portraits. Disembodied eyes and other images are hidden in the picture on the left, and a black substance reminiscent of ectoplasm exists my body on the right.
Uriah Little Hoop (Wamni Omni Waci Win) Oglala, Sicangu Lakota, Dine A Presence Acrylic on canvas
I was inspired and empowered by spirituality, my own indigenous identity, and artists like Dyani White Hawk to create this self-portrait. The painting materials descend from Walmart, the Oglala and Sicangu Lakota people, and it carries the Dine touch just as I do. In the ongoing event of the painting, I have been able to rediscover, reconnect, and readjust to life each time I’ve worked on it. There’s no direct meaning behind anything you see; it is symbolic to my roots.
Reice Morgan Muscogee
How to Kill the Indian to Save the Man Vintage desk, chalk, wooden stick, human hair, Bible, photograph. In the name of Christianity, residential schools were created to “civilize” Indigenous children. Horrendous acts took place there, and today, at schools all across North America, many unmarked graves continue to surface. It is our job as Indigenous people to never forget what truly happened inside these places. In memory of the survivors and the children who didn’t survive, I created my own desk that includes a picture of Native girls who were victims of a residential school, and items that were used to “Kill the Indian to save the man.”
Jay P. Pewenofkit Absentee Shawnee, Apache, Comanche Deflated Traffic cone and MAGA hat
People wearing MAGA hats remind me of big traffic cones walking around, things to avoid whenever possible because conversation does not go well — it’s MAGA hat way or the highway. On a personal level, I feel MAGA is far from what we got as Native Americans with regards to the oil pipeline. It was fun roughing up the hat and making haphazard cuts in the orange cone. The resulting assisted readymade looks sad standing there in the cold.
Alyonna Pretty On Top
Crow
For Sleepy Drivers Digital collage
It is estimated that every year about 100,000 sleepy drivers crash resulting in nearly 800 fatalities and about 50,000 injuries. My grandmother was killed by a sleepy driver on her way to work. She was everything to me. This is me raising awareness to those who think they should drive while drowsy. Think first about others on the road.
Olivia Jett Rodriguez Cheyenne & Arapaho I see myself. Digital collage
Inspired by Meryl McMaster’s Ancestral series (2008-), I see myself. reclaims the photographic and artistic tropes of Native Americans perpetuated by Euro-American artists such as Edward Curtis. The photos of myself and my shoes are digitally layered with paintings by my great grandfather, Archie Blackowl. The contrast between the traditional illustrations/imagery in the paintings and myself in my everyday clothes is meant to show that we are still here; while I join part of my family’s past to the present. Jamie Okuma’s beaded Louboutins also inspire part of this idea; keeping alive the traditions and arts of our ancestors by combining it with something “modern” and non-traditional, whether it be Louboutins or Photobooth and vinyl platform boots, we Indigenous People are still here in our 2021 contemporary Indigenous bodies.
Raylene Sanchez Lee The Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation/Oaxaca
HO HO HO HOMO! Digital photography. Models: Lillian Santacruz (Yakama/Oaxaca) and Jocelyn Santacruz (Purépecha from Michoacán, Mexico) This is a greeting card to demonstrate our evolving beliefs about love. I want to show that we are evolving and that it is not taboo to see a queer couple on a Holiday card. I wanted to capture this Indigenous couple taking a stand, exposing their identities and what matters to them, as well as their quirkiness and the holiday spirit they also want to share with their community.
Ethan Oden Inuit Night Wolf acrylic paint
I started this project after looking at Diego Romero’s ceramic plates that combine comics with tribal designs. I saw this and loved it and decided to do a similar thing but with video games, to paint onto clay one of my favorite video game characters, Night Wolf.
Kirstyn Reich Cherokee “Staying Strong” mixed media
Staying Strong is a representation of how our culture has stayed strong through the pandemic. Covid-19 has torn apart so many things and effects so much of our everyday lives. The one thing I have noticed that hasn’t taken away is our culture. We have pushed through these hard times and this has proven there is something that can’t be taken from us.
Kalissa Underwood Eastern Shoshone Untitled Glass beads, hide
This horse represents my Grandma, whose Shoshone name means Pretty Horse.
Kendra Wakolee Sac & Fox Nation of Oklahoma
We Lost Count Repurposed textile, ceramic mask, string, glass beads, and acrylic paint. Each bead in this assemblage represents a missing person. The spilled beads represent all the unreported cases
Chante Wallette Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians Remember Her Mixed Media
Inspired by Rebecca Belmore’s performances, I stained a red dress as if it were a canvas, the color red to call attention to something that is seemingly invisible to our government. It feels as though these cases of missing and murdered women are swept under a rug, forced to be forgotten. The media doesn’t broadcast our missing girls. How will we remember them? How will we stop this? As a young Indigenous woman myself, this is horrifying!
Reese White Lightning Hunkpapa Lakota, 2021 Untitled Colored pencils, charcoal, charcoal paper
When creating this drawing I focused on the chaotic nature of the imagination and it came to me to make some sort of scene where giant Lovecraftian creatures are confronting each other while a lone buffalo is caught in the middle. There was also the idea to have this take place in some sort of empty wasteland that goes on forever. The drawing is about that feeling of being existentially small with the one thing that is somewhat familiar to us being surrounded by things we cannot understand.
Hannah Zephier Ihanktonwan Oyate Accountability Graphite, pen, paper, string
I created an enlarged coin spinning on top of a map of the Americas. Our governments choose to stay blind to their racist pasts and present, especially with regards to the boarding schools they created to force assimilation on Indigenous children, killing and burying thousands and putting them in unmarked graves we are still finding. The US and Canadian governments ignore corruption, injustice, and outdated racist laws made by white men, for white men. They’re not even really blind. They’re pretending. It doesn’t matter what leaders we elect. We will continue to live like this as long as we keep letting settler cultures walk all over us.