yes, the headdress again

Chief Joseph: RISE campaign

Since this headdress thing keeps gaining more attention as of late with the Governor of Oklahoma's daughter sporting not only a headdress but a caption that read 'Appropriate Culturation'. There's hope that this trend goes mainstream enough to die but before it does I hope to make some difference in why the headdress appropriation is bothersome to begin with.

I have so many things to say but I will limit it to a few key points today. Most of my life growing up as a Native American in a small town in Western Washington on my reservation I attended a public school where I was one of maybe five Natives. There were experiences that stood out to me from memory including a group of boys telling me what a pow wow was. It started as being asked what I did that weekend and I answered "I went to a pow-wow with my grandpa" to the group of white boys who called me a liar, one standing up to say 'my dad knows Indians and pow-wows aren't for kids, they are for chiefs and sacred meetings!" standing as though he were some great leader. This was the beginning of a long journey.

I shared in a previous post about my negative experience with my literature teacher here. In that same class though I recall when we watched "Lord of the Flies" and I sat between two friends, one half Korean and African American the other Korean. The girl in front of me was a tall blonde girl we'd all grown up with and considered a friend and even rode the same bus as me up to that point. The part where the children danced around the fire she said in shock "oh my God, they're like wild Indians!" there was no hiding the disgust she had in her tone. My friends looked at me from either side as if turning their heads in slow motion to gauge my reaction. I frowned about put my head down. After a minute or so, she must have remembered I was Indian and I sat behind her so she started apologizing. While she did I tuned out and the thought crossed my mind 

this movie isn't about Native Americans, it's about chaos. When "The Color Purple" or "Roots" is shown people are ashamed of the slave owners not disgusted by the slaves right? I'm not saying we are slaves but in all these movies there is no semblance of the humanity. We are the enemy, uncivilized and the wild but that's NOT how we are.

I remember coming back to her apology and simply saying 'it's ok, you're not going to understand this feeling I have in a matter of 10 minutes of talk and honestly I don't think you can do anything about it. You are afraid of wild Indians like all the movies we've grown up with and there's nothing we can do to change that'.

But this steamroller of a monster that made us out to be the demons has enormous momentum. It has made me feel unease my whole life and I wonder if it's why our children struggle in school being taught history from the perspective of the hero which makes us the villain. I really feel frustration in that perception of chaos and the random dancing around the fire, free spirit portrayal. As someone who's attended ceremonies of my tribe I've never known anything to be done without order, without reason. In fact I don't know of any tribes to 'be wild' or 'chaotic'. In order to survive there must be order. The thing that fascinates me is that the only contact people had early on with Native people on a large scale was to acquire land and resources which plainly we understand the slant of that tale today.

When the governor of Oklahoma's daughter, Christina Fallin put her headdress on and captioned her pic on Facebook for her band "Pink Pony" self described as Electronic-Punk I'd have had more respect for her if she really spoke up in the sense of what punk is. Which leads me to another frustration. Indians as counter culture or anti-establishment. I'm beginning to believe the Lana Del Ray video "Ride" shed light on what's kind of been happening for a long time now. Self proclaimed 'white trash' individuals along with bikers have glommed onto Native culture as though we were rebels looking for trouble. Again, highly problematic and very far removed from accurate. There was order, there were constructs for doing things but again, images of people 'playing Indian' dancing around a fire for no reason.

So as for Christina Fallin, needless to say I'm disappointed. If you were really punk you'd have stood your ground as counter culture or explained to the Native people your take on wearing the headdress that differentiated yourself from the hoards of hipsters in headdress, but no, you are like all the rest. Johnny Rotten would be ashamed you call yourself punk. I think it's time to tag people like yourself as you are, a #Poser and a #Tourist.

I may not come directly from a tribe that has the headdress in it's tradition but I respect those who do. I've said before I can speak to my ties to Chief Sealth, Whitebird and Chief Joseph and even so I'd never 'honor' them by pretending I'm something I am not. If you can't do that you are a fraud and a wannabe and you can speak to that when this trend falls off and you finally grow up.

Vashon on the horizon

I know my radical postings have been like rants to some lately but to prove they are not just complaints. Today I'm starting the project for Vashon Island that will include Native speakers from my tribe to educate islanders there about our territory reach along with the treaty rights we retain. Years ago the army forcefully removed our people from there and the longhouses were destroyed. It isn't talked about in text and therefore people think we were not part of that land. Today I am working on a design of a Devilfish largely influenced by our Puyallup elder Ramona Bennett. She's always asked me to depict the devilfish because of the eight arms reaching out were to note us as a people who touch many nations. This concept to use that image is to ask our people to come back to this place where they are no longer strangers in their own home.

I'll be following up with more postings as the project develops in the meantime I am getting into the carving phase of this soon. Thanks for visiting.

why all the appropriations talk suddenly?

Sacheen Littlfeather Adademy Awards 1973 

It all started with a dream. Not the Martin Luther King Jr. type but a Native dream by a 'real Indian', a vision if you will entertain the idea. I was visited by my late grandfather, Thomas Peterson Sr. We were in a dry hot area much like the Eastern Washington or Idaho territory he grew up in as a Nez Perce child. He was an adult in my dream much as I remember him and he simply said "you should say what you feel" and his hand topped mine and he laughed as he always did in my memories, so joyful. The scene was us both sitting on cheap lawn chairs in a dusty hot Summer and sitting beneath an American flag. Most notible to me was that we were behind it. At my revalation to this it was as though I were truly present and aware my grandfather dissapeared as I stood up to notice my place of position. The following is an excerpt from a recent Facebook post

I became aware of a powerful memory from my high school years. I had an assignment in literature my junior year to interview the oldest person I knew about the great depression and their experience. At that time my adopted grandfather1, then 100 was the obvious choice. I interviewed him and he shared several aspects of the depression as a Native American of the Nez Perce tribe. He said then it was actually a good time for Native people because they weren't yet far removed from their sense of community and the land. In fact it brought them back together for a period. In that time he learned about traditions they had before his time and cultural aspects not written down. He was so happy telling me about it and it brought a smile to my face. I remember writing it out with great pride. Then after class some days later I was told the report was inaccurate and was not really related to the assignment. I remember asking if the focus was to find the eldest person you know and talk about the depression from their experience. It was confirmed but then I remember him saying 'how do I know this isn't just made up?'. I had to find non-Native people to interview to do it 'the right way' and to this day it's bothered me the older and wiser I've become. It bothers me most to know that essay was thrown out. I am reminded this because I was reading about the INDIAN TERMINATION POLICY of 1940s. It makes me think during that time Native people showing community sense and knowledge of their land was a threat and perhaps inspired the policies to dissolve tribes and acquire the land for 'settlers'. People wonder why Native people struggle today and I feel it's important to uncover these buried histories that show a one sided tale of a villainous people OR fragile people depending on how it's told, that were in either case unable to fit in the system.

To me this meant a call to action that had been bothering me much of my adult life. As a Native artist I come under much judgment from non-Native hobbyists who voice strongly their knowledge of how the 'Indian way' is and exactly how I'm doing my work incorrectly. Following this, the recent explosion of a fashion trend that in the general explanation 'honors' Native culture by donning feather headdresses by the hipster crowd have pushed me to the end of my silence. 

My feelings are that my grandfathers had to make people uncomfortable in their lifetime in order to strive for a better life. Sacrifices were made and for me to stand by as a father today and silence myself would to them and my son a dishonor. Marlon Brando came to our reservation in the 70's in support of our fishing rights movement on our family property. He and a number of our tribal members were bringing awareness to the injustice enacted on our land. Today movements like Idle No More are pushing for the very same thing, the protection of something promised. People ask me so often when I carve in public 'Did you learn this from your grandpa or dad." which in all honesty is a valid question, but when I explain why I didn't and mention the Indian Relocation Act it's immediately off putting and the visitor shuts down immediately. Granted I'm not one who stands up with confrontational standings, I just explain and answer the question but it's the answer that bothers people so much. It seems people want a romantic answer that our lives as Native people have been unaltered or that things are all just as they were before on the reservations we live on. I am fortunate. I live on a reservation that has defended it's treaty rights (at great cost) by my Grandfather and his father before him in Puyallup. 

I guess what I'm saying is I think it's time to have a dialogue about how we've arrived to the place we are in today. I see history repeating itself as I read back into our history that has undermined our people. What it means to me is my history of where I come from is not a pretty picture. I make art to share the way I see the mythology and yet the present day. My views have broadened and with it, my art and dialogue will follow suit. This doesn't mean I'll become all dark and bitter. I will continue to find content and ideas to explore as I always have and in the view from which I see them.

1 for those entirely curious, my biological father is Native American too, Hupa and Yurok. I regard my adopted grandfather as the one I grew up with being a major influence in my life regardless.

Indigenous New Media Symposium

So last night I attended the Indigenous New Media Symposium in New York at the New School. I was informed about this by a friend who lives here and on a whim I decided to take initiative and fly out. Only days ago I was at my friend Matika Wilbur's kickstarter celebration at the Tacoma Art Museum for her project 562. So how does this relate to the work that I do? Well, as a Native artist and a Native in general I've struggled with a feeling of what media has dictated about what is expected to be a 'real Indian'. In the traditional background I come from as a sculptor I come under critique for not being traditional enough and the introduction of any new media into the work in many peoples minds makes the work I do less 'authentic'. I've found it this painful place to live in where the larger views are suffocate innovation always longing for the 'way things were'. These experiences have led to many conversations with friends in the Native community and specifically the Native art world.

You may have noticed some of my recent posts being more politically driven as I'm wrestling with the idea of making a separate blog for those who follow my work as a printmaker/scuptor but that's yet to be decided. For now though, it's here. 

As for last night, what was it exactly? It was an event where four speakers shared their experiences as Native people using media to communicate and help redefine the way we perceive Native peoples from the inside. There have been trends in the fashion world and pop culture world that really push against progress for Native people today. It objectifies the sacred and trades off concepts as if to 'own' culture or 'borrow' iconography to make statements or be radical. In my opinion, it's done in poor taste and like so many trends creates a sea of followers that have no idea why they are doing what they are doing to be 'original'. It also makes the mainstream further believe that Native people are extinct and or so insignificant anything goes.

Last nights speakers included Jessica Metcalfe, Chase Iron Eyes, Clayton Thomas-Muller, Adrienne Keene and Jarrett Martineau. Although Clayton was only able to speak at the very end, he shared some of his thoughts on the movements of things like Idle No More. Both Jessica and Adrienne spoke to the trends of fashion and appropriation and what they are doing to battle it. Jarett spoke about existing movements like the 1491's and Chase about the site Last Real Indians. In all great words were shared and it comes down to the next steps and the question was posed 'where do we go from here?" as my part coming out from Seattle I promise to make sure a West Coast companion to this growing dialogue happens in one form or another. I believe Seattle is a good place to host such an event as our Native communities have been visible and within the world at large it is after all named after one of our Chiefs. Our Native communities have demonstrated thru protest here and made great strides such as the case for John T. Williams and various Idle No More gatherings.

To those who attended the New York event I am making a pledge to be more active in the field and I feel inspired to do some more work in educating the larger public space through video in the coming months. I have written a lot about this as it's been heavy on my mind and I look forward to sharing some of those things as they are ready to emerge. Keep an eye out on the YouTube channel for updates and subscribe to receive them automatically.

For those who would like to see, the broadcast  of the Indigenous New Media Symposium it's available  here.

Valentine Print for 2014

Love is in the air as they say and Valentine's Day is upon us. Here's a print close to my heart that features Wolf as the main character with the moon in the background. In Puget Sound Salish mythology wolf and moon are in agreement that wolf will watch over the Coast Salish people as the moon returned to the sky world. The print itself is symbolic of the softer side which are rarely considered with iconography of characters like Wolf. This is and always has been a playful part of my decision to look at aspects not common in the mythology of my heritage. For more info please click here.