BEING SEEN
Native women and Santa Fe Indian Market
Native women and Santa Fe Indian Market
IN AN UNPRECEDENTED BUT TIMELY MOVE, SWAIA chose “Rise and Remember: Honoring the Resilience of Native Women” as this year’s Indian Market theme. While this concept speaks of the triumphs of ancestors, mothers, aunts and mentors, it also calls to mind the harsh, stark realities of violence that all too many Native American, First Nations and other Indigenous women still face. While artists and activists in Canada have called attention to the crisis of murdered and missing Indigenous women (MMIW) in their country, the situation is likely worse among Native Americans in the United States. The general public is not aware of this situation and news outlets ignore it, because, as the Reclaiming Native Truth research project revealed, one of the most fundamental problems Native peoples face in the United States is invisibility. Erasure and false stereotypes contribute to the general public’s lack of knowledge about, support for and interest in Native American rights. A 2015 study led by Dr. Stephen Fryberg of the University of Washington revealed that 95 out of the first 100 images Google provided in a search for “Native Americans” were historical images. The general perception is that Native Americans exist only in the past. Against this backdrop, the act of convening almost 1,000 living Native American artists to meet and visit with the public — as Santa Fe Indian Market does — is a powerful one. This collective assembly sets in motion
conversations and relationships that will impact far more than the 120,000 visitors who come to see Indian Market firsthand. These visitors will be able to share their experiences engaging with living Native American people with their families, friends, colleagues and neighbors and to broadcast the message that we are still here. To understand more, I reached out to SWAIA board members and Indian Market artists, especially newcomers, to understand their perspectives. I asked Mark Bahti, SWAIA board member, author and owner of Bahti Indian Arts in Santa Fe and Tucson, what he would say to someone who thinks an art market isn’t an appropriate place for activism. “If not there, then where?” Bahti replied. “It’s the best place and most appropriate place, because you have the gathering of artists unlike any other, and they have the attention of the market, unlike any other place. So it’s the ideal spot. That’s where change happens — in that interface between artists and the public, in the marketplace. And it amplifies the voice of the artist.” One reason SWAIA has been able to grow and adapt to changing realities, Bahti says, is “because they have such strong artist presentation on the board, which has been very responsive to the artists who are out there on the forward edge of art.” The artists, he continues, are “really the seeds of the change. It’s not necessarily the organization changing; it’s the artists changing the organization.”
One artist on SWAIA’s board is the accomplished painter Traci Rabbit (Cherokee Nation). She enthusiastically embraces the chosen theme. “This year’s theme for me means to rise above tragedy, adversity and oppression — to elevate oneself above all of these things,” says Rabbit. “To strive for better tomorrows while continuing to embrace our heritage. To be an example to the younger ones who are watching. To show the world we are still here and we are thriving.” First-time Indian Market artist Mary Annette Printup Clause (Tuscarora) exemplifies art’s transformative power for change and healing. A beadwork artist creating regalia for her fellow Haudenosaunee people and whimsies (beaded, velvet-soft sculptures), Clause states, “My art is about helping and healing people.” After her own son was killed, beadwork helped her overcome grief and find hope again. Clause learned to bead from her maternal grandmother, Doris Pembleton Printup (Tuscarora, 1914-1984). Clause exhibited in East Coast art markets in the 1970s, but a full-time job and family consumed her time. Many people commissioned her directly to make beadwork, and she began being invited to museum exhibitions, leaving no time or inventory for markets. She taught beadwork in several communities, notably a beading group at a safe house in St. Catharines, Ontario. There, Clause witnessed the healing power of beadwork, particularly for Native survivors of violence, many of whom had been adopted away from Indigenous communities and were escaping abuse and human trafficking. REMEMBERING MMIW While such a grim reality might seem at odds with a joyful gathering of artists and collectors at Santa Fe Indian Market, in fact, calling attention to this situation is a step toward finding solutions. Rabbit says, “Remembering those who have gone missing and murdered, as we continue to bring this issue to the forefront, ensures they will not be forgotten.” “Native women have higher rates of violence and sexual assault perpetrated against them, which is unfortunate,” says second-year market artist Amber DuBoise-Shepherd (Navajo/Sac and Fox/Potawatomi). The Indian Law Resource Center states, “More than four in five American Indian and Alaska Native women have experienced violence. … On some reservations, Indigenous women are murdered at more than ten times the national average.” DuBoise-Shepherd says, “I know family and relatives — Native and non-Native — that have had to go through these evils, that have been hurt, and that even died at the hands of another. … I believe there can be changes in laws and legislation to help protect woman, children and even men to prevent and reduce these crimes from happening. “Through art, we can help bring attention to these issues of violence against women, and we can use art to help heal the broken hearts of families that have been impacted by these crimes,” DuBoise-Shepherd continues. “Art can speak for our Native people — for our Native women, men, children and elders, and for the Native women that have had to experience or had their lives taken by violence against them. Through our artistic creations of murals, paintings, jewelry, clothing, singing, dancing and much more, these women will never be forgotten.” WOMEN OF SWAIA Achieving recognition for women at the highest levels of the mainstream art world remains a challenge, and statistics paint a grim picture. While women make up 45.8 percent of all artists in the United States, as a National Endowment for the Arts study revealed, only 13 percent of 10,000 artworks in permanent collections of major American art museums were made by women, as a Public Library of Science study found. The Art Newspaper surveyed 590 major exhibitions in the
“When Native women from all nations come together, we are a force to be reckoned with. We are as mighty as the ocean, and we are like the tide — we all rise together!” TRACI RABBIT (CHEROKEE NATION)