Áakiiwilaxpaake (People of the Earth)
2022
Stories are embedded in our DNA and our ancestry, all the stories that our ancestors carried and that we possess in our bodies. I think everyone that we take a portrait of [for this project] carries these amazing and important stories; they represent those voices in this work. ---Wendy Red Star
Native people—their histories and stories—have largely been excluded from the American art canon. Red Star examines past artworks and historical documents in order to question this exclusion and to reinsert Native voices into the making of an inclusive, nuanced, collaborative version of American art history. Using layers of visual information for this artwork, including Japanese artist Yoshida Hiroshi’s (1876‒1950) woodblock print of Mount Tahoma (Rainier) from SAM’s collection (2004.21) as the backdrop, the artist reimagines the Seattle skyline as being activated by portraits, taken specifically for this project, of Indigenous women and children from the Seattle region, honoring the humanity and resilience of their collective and personal stories.
First row
Tallou Kankanton and Ahnu Zaiyari Kankanton Munoz
Second row
Leanne Rye Brock and Montana Brock Tinner, Lisa Wilson McCaul, Megan Castillo, Nitalusa Angelova, Helen Beauty Sekaquaptewa, Isabella Rice, Kynoah Eule, Archer Rice
Third row
Kari Karsten, Jennifer A. Brown, Epiphany Couch, Naomi McCaul, Georgia Erickson, Miriam Zmiewski-Angelova, Jalissa Rice, Tala Brown, Tavi McCaul, Sunset Eule
Fourth row
Shannon Morrison, Anja Littlecreek, Olivia Vann (tse go ne la), Reed Von Sekaquaptewa, Sophia Vann (tse a nv ni), Diane Pebeahsy, Carmen Selam, Sally Bruhn, Denise Stiffarm, Tiarraray Square, Nashoba Angelov
Tribal nations represented in this project:
Aaniiih (White Clay), Dena’ina, Bristol Bay Native Corporation, Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, Chahta (Choctaw), Seminole, Tlingit, Cherokee, The Sac and Fox Nation, 14 Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, Numunuu (Comanche), Hopi, Diné (Navajo), Mvskoke, Chickasaw, Spuyaləpabš (Puyallup), Apsáalooke, Eastern Shawnee of Oklahoma, St. Regis Mohawk Tribe, Seneca Nation
Archival inkjet prints, Dibond, LED lights, electrical components, wood, milk plexiglass
84 x 62 x 12 in. (213.4 x 157.5 x 30.5 cm)
Bruce Leven Acquisition Fund
2022.44
Provenance: Commissioned from the artist by Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 2022
Photo: Scott Leen
