Indigenous Peoples

The art of indigenous peoples has historically been undervalued and underappreciated by the wider art world. Long subjugated and oppressed, the native peoples of North America, South America, and Australia were traditionally considered “savage” under racist colonialist views and in need of “civilizing,” which generally meant conformity with Western practices and mores. The cultural traditions and practices of these indigenous peoples, often dating back centuries, were denigrated and ridiculed by colonialist oppressors, many of whom viewed non-Western traditions as, at best, “exotic” but inferior to their own. While now considered outdated and offensive, these views for too long governed the way Western audiences perceived native peoples and, commensurately, their art and culture.

Thankfully, with the evolution of Western perspectives about indigenous peoples, there has been a renewal of interest in their history and culture. Some of this has taken the form of formal governmental recognition, such as when President George H. W. Bush declared the month of November as National American Indian Heritage Month, commonly referred to as Native American Heritage Month. More specifically, the art world has taken notice of the rich historical traditions found in indigenous art and has discovered an appreciation of that art that was hitherto lacking.

One of the most notable Native American artists is Jaune Quick-To-See Smith, a Native American visual artist, and curator who is an enrolled member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and is also of Métis and Shoshone descent. Smith’s work, which has been widely exhibited and can be found in the permanent collections of numerous prominent art museums, is grounded in a Native American worldview and contemplates the American Indian identity and the history of oppression of Native American peoples. Smith’s I See Red series juxtaposes stereotypical commodification of Native American cultures with visual reminders of their colonizer's legacies. Similarly, 1992’s Trade (Gifts for Trading Land with White People), a response to the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ arrival in North America in 1992, contrasts traditional indigenous iconography—a canoe—with a string holding various stereotypical kitsch objects featuring Native American imagery (including, for example, a Cleveland Indians baseball hat and Washington Redskins paraphernalia). The piece again brings the viewer’s attention to the commodification and appropriation of native culture while referencing the role of trade goods in the “purchase” of Indian lands by colonialists as early as the 1600s.

In terms of historical and artistic traditions, the works of indigenous Australian artists (previously called “Aborigines,” an outdated term redolent of a colonial worldview and mindset) are grounded in an ancient cultural practice of artwork dating back at least to still-visible rock art estimated to be 20,000 years old. One of the most famous indigenous Australian artists—indeed, one of the most famous Australian artists writ large—is Emily Kame Kngwarreye. As an artist in traditional cloth-dyeing practice known as batik, she was not introduced to paint (specifically, acrylic) until nearly 80 years old. Afterward, Kngwarreye painted more than 3,000 pieces in the eight years preceding her death. Kngwarreye’s works focused on traditional indigenous themes, many revolving around nature, and are considered some of the finest examples of indigenous art ever created.

In the vein of honoring the indigenous experience, art history was recently made with the exhibition Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artists, which ran from late 2019 until early 2021 and was the first major museum exhibition exploring the achievements of Native women artists. The exhibition sprang from the minds of two artists who both possessed the uncommon knowledge that most Native art is produced by women and, when exhibited, that art had seldom been attributed to the artist directly. Hearts of Our People took the unprecedented step of putting a Native woman artist’s name with every piece for which one was available—a practice, sadly, that had never been done before in exhibitions of Native art. The show featured a variety of artists, many previously little-known, and also included notable names such as Joan Hill, one of the most awarded Native American woman artists of the 20th century. Hill is known most for her stylized paintings of historical and cultural scenes, produced using a limited palette of neutrals, oranges, reds, and purples that let negative space define foliage, groundcover, or other landscape features.

Smith, Kngwarreye, and Hill are three prominent examples representative of the major themes of indigenous art, which, juxtaposed, often sit in tension: oppression and tradition. Both of these themes are inseparable from indigenous art, yet they speak to opposite ends of the indigenous experience. On the one hand is the rich history of native peoples, often populated with references to nature and cultural practices; on the other is the expropriation and subjugation those peoples faced at the hands of colonialists who often divorced those peoples from their native lands and traditions. To honor the indigenous experience is to recognize and respect both of these themes. In this vein, Justice Murals is proud to serve as an ally to indigenous peoples everywhere and to provide support to indigenous artists and the experiences and traditions those artists recognize through their invaluable works.