CULTURAL CONJURING
As Dead Feather, Edmond artist Joshua Garrett is reviving his Muscogee (Creek) culture
From paintings and poetry to dolls and masks, Joshua Garrett considers creating art that reflects his Native culture a kind of conjuring. “To me, this is like a form of witchcraft, or `Porretv' … in Creek. It's kind of my own style … like a shaman who could shapeshift and transform,” he said. “I'm trying to reverse the effects of assimilation.”
For the past seven years, the Edmond artist known as Dead Feather has found himself transformed through exploring and expressing his American Indian heritage, from teaching himself the Creek language to creating masks based on his tribe's deities.
“It's a whole concept that I've been piecing together since probably around 2012 … to tackle the idea of assimilation, the civilization process of the Native American, particularly the Creek, because I'm Muscogee (Creek) and Seminole, which is practically the same tribe,” he said.
“They were the first ones to be civilized under George Washington's civilization process ... and that involved taking away their religious beliefs, taking away their customs, their practices, introducing religion and the Bible as a tool for learning English and forcing them to learn English. I am a result of that.”
Garrett will showcase some of his cultural conjuring Friday night at “Indian Summer: An Evening of Indigenous Fashion, Art and Music” at 51st Street Speakeasy.
“We were all blown away by his stuff. I don't even know how to explain it. Some of it is kind of haunting. … We've known him for a long time and loved his work,” said Speakeasy co-owner Greg Bustamante, who went to high school with Garrett.
More than a label
Over the past two years, Garrett also has exhibited his Native artwork at Individual Artists of Oklahoma on Film Row, The Art Hall in Uptown 23rd and the Paseo Plunge.
“Everything is self-taught. … Sometimes you just gotta sit down and start reading and studying. You can't rely on somebody to explain it to you,” said Garrett, who works as a teaching assistant at Edmond's Ida Freeman Elementary.
“As an individual who is Muscogee (Creek) who has discovered … all these new and exciting things about my history and my culture, I have a responsibility to teach those who have been in my position, that have no idea what the heck it means to be Muscogee (Creek). But I love doing it, man.”
Along with paintings, he has created Este Lobutke Dolls, named after the helpful “Little People” of his people's folklore and designed a series of masks based on 13 of his tribe's deities.
“I wasn't raised in a traditional household, so it took me this long to find out what it means to be Muscogee (Creek). Growing up, I was always told, `You're Indian, you're Native American, you're Muscogee (Creek).' But it didn't register for me what that actually means," he said.
He said he borrowed from other tribal traditions to find the medium to express his own.
“The masks are of Hopi and Navajo origin, and they influenced heavily the different types of masks," said Garrett, who was born deaf and reads lips. “And I'm borrowing from the Plains tribes' practices in making breastplates to protect themselves. I'm kind of protecting these gods: I made the deities these masks, and I'm making these breastplates to kind of keep them from being forgotten again. I'm kind of reviving them and bringing them back from the dead."
Beyond the masks
Figuring the best way to show the masks was to host a fashion show, he has recruited friends and family to model them during Friday's event. He also has invited Oklahoma musical acts Ticksuck, who is Ponca, and Astrae Invade and God Malpractice, who are both Kiowa, Comanche and Seminole, to perform.
Plus, Garrett will give a reading from his new book
of poetry titled “Porretv,” which is written in Creek and English and tells of the death of a witch. He said he has been using the translation book that his grandfather was forced to use in boarding school to learn English to teach himself Creek.
“I am still learning. When I read these poems, you're going to hear some mistakes," he said. "But it fits in with the theme of reviving the Muscogee (Creek) deities and all that to be able to speak the language. So, it's like a holy ritual that's going on."