ART-ACT Art | SPW Art | Introduction | Community | Web School | Free Graphics
EXHIBIT STATEMENT - POWER OF THE IMAGE 2
The POWER OF THE IMAGE 2 (Popular Culture and American Indian Self Identity) is a collaboration between the Mitchell Museum of the American Indian and young Native artists in Chicago, Minneapolis and the Menominee Reservation in Wisconsin.
The exhibit offers the opportunity to examine the relationship between popular culture images of Indians and Native American self images.
Using objects in the Museum's Media Collection we identify a series of popular images of Indians that lie behind the use of Native American names and images in sports, advertising and children's games.
As a counterpoint, we display works created by Native children from both urban and reservation settings whose art was inspired by questions relating to their self identity:
"What does it mean to you to be Indian?"
"What do you want people to know about you as an Indian?"
"What do you think people know about Native people?"
Other children, from Chicago Public Schools with enrichment programs about indigenous people, were asked to contribute art based on the question:
"What do you know about Native American (Indian) people?"
The children's works are all part of an on-going project coordinated by Mariana Moreno-Goodwin (Quichua).
An earlier version of this exhibit, The Power of the Image (1) to Educate or Miseducate, was shown last year at the 1929 Exhibition Studies Space of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
The drawings from the Menominee Tribal School and the videos from Native children in and around Minneapolis are the most recent additions to the installation.
The artists include:
The art created by the Chicago area children, both Native and non-Native, are displayed together in this gallery and the two adjacent galleries.
We do this partly because they were all created for the same purpose -- the original installation of The Power of the Image to Educate or Miseducate installation.
We also wanted to show that many of these works carry the popular image of Indians wearing feathers and living in tepees.
In contrast, the works created by the Native students at the Menominee Tribal School in Neopit, Wisconsin, show a different Native identity. These works, displayed along the west wall of the center gallery, feature with images of clan animals and tribal lands.
INDIVIDUAL CASE LABELS
1. POPULAR IMAGE: INDIANS ARE BRAVE WARRIORS
Many sports teams use the idea of strength and bravery in battle to inspire the players to fight hard and win. Fierce animals (like Bears, Wolves and Jaguars) and courageous groups (like Pirates, Trailblazers and Steelers) -- often with some local connection -- are common sources for team names.
In contrast, team mascots offer comical parodies of the team name, allowing sports fans to be part of the team without all the frightening aspects of the primary team image.
Many people feel that when teams use the names of a living cultures and mascots parody their clothing and traditions, then the dignity and self-respect of members of those cultures has been damaged.
CHANGING PERSPECTIVE:
As more people learn that Native people find names like "Indian", "Redskin" and "Brave" offensive, sports teams are changing their names. Most recently Niles West High School has decided to rename their sports teams. While the University of Illinois Board of Trustees heard two days of testimony regarding "Chief Illiniwek" last Spring, it has not yet officially responded.
2. POPULAR IMAGE: INDIANS ARE PART OF NATURE
Food manufacturers focus on the relationship between Native peoples and the natural world to suggest that products bearing an Indian image or name are "pure" and "natural".
While indigenous foods like corn and rice are historically connected with Native Americans, many of the products have no relationship to the Indians whose names and pictures they bear.
Alcohol manufacturers also draw on the idea of the potent "fire water" sold in Indians in the 18th and 19th centuries to attract consumers.
CHANGING PERSPECTIVE
Today, many food products with Indian images and names come from companies owned by Native peoples, including First Nations Cola, Sioux Honey Association and Northland Native American Products.
Protests over the use of Indian names for beer have succeeded in removing from the market "Crazy Horse Malt Liquor", named for a Lakota holy man, and "Treaty Beer", supposed to "honor" Native American treaty rights.
3. POPULAR IMAGE: INDIAN BOYS ARE LITTLE BRAVES. INDIAN GIRLS ARE PRINCESSES.
Toy makers combine the appeal of "dress-up" with the twin images of "junior" warriors and exotic princess.
Boys are provided with war paint and weapons for "play" fights. Fierce Indian action figures range from the traditional "Cowboys and Indians" to Turok the Dinosaur Hunter. All of these focus on the image of Indian boys learning to hunt and wage war, while ignoring other important areas of education -- particularly spiritual teaching.
Girls are given gentler images, like Pocahontas and her animal friends. Exotic "fancy" jewels and funny toys like puppets, Lego ™ and trolls, reinforce the image of a pampered and leisurely way of life. These do not show the wide variety of Native women's responsibilities, from food providers to peacemakers.
CHANGING PERSPECTIVE
Today, toys present a greater variety in the Native peoples, including Tlingit and Inca Barbie™ dolls, and the Navajo Code Talker GI Joe™.
4. POPULAR IMAGE: INDIANS WEAR FEATHERED HEADDRESSES
The feathered bonnet traditionally symbolizes the honor extended to war chiefs among the Sioux and other northern Plains tribes. Through its popular use in Wild West shows and Hollywood movies, it is has become a general symbol of Indian-ness.
This once regional headdress has come to represent Native people whose traditional dress does not include war bonnets. Examples of its culturally inappropriate use shown here include the Seminole of Florida, the Ho-chunk (Winnebago) of Wisconsin, Pueblo peoples of New Mexico, the Apache of Arizona and the New York Mohawk.
CHANGING PERSPECTIVES
This image has changed very little. The feathered headdress stereotype is still widely used, even when inappropriate, and few changes have been made to more accurately depict Native people.