Four Seasons series: Winter
Date2006, printed 2016
Maker
Wendy Red Star
Native American, Apsáalooke/Crow, born 1981
Label TextIn one of the artist’s most well-known works, Red Star cheekily parodies several stereotypes associated with Native peoples, including romanticized American Indians as “one with nature” and the exoticized Native woman presented in decades of photography by Edward S. Curtis and others. Humor is definitely present as Red Star depicts herself in traditional regalia against fake majestic nature backdrops, also recalling museum dioramas. She places artificial animals, plastic flowers, Astroturf, and other commercial items in the scenes, further complicating the idea of an “Indian Garden of Eden.” Within the series there also lurks a critique of how western landscape photography promoted the conquest of Native Americans whose lands were integral to their cultures.
Object number2016.13.2
ProvenanceThe artist
Photo CreditImage provided by Wendy Red Star
Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, YOU ARE ON INDIGENOUS LAND: places/displaces, Apr. 6, 2019 - June 28, 2020 [on view Dec. 6, 2019 - June 28, 2020].Credit LineGift of Loren G. Lipson, M.D.
DimensionsSheet: 23 x 26 in. (58.4 x 66 cm)
Image: 21 x 24 in. (53.3 x 61 cm)
MediumArchival pigment print on Sunset Fiber rag
Will Wilson
2017, printed 2019
Object number: 2019.26.1
Will Wilson
2017, printed 2019
Object number: 2019.26.2
Will Wilson
negative 2017, printed 2022
Object number: 2022.35