Winter, from The Four Seasons series
Wendy Red Star, Apsaalooke / American, born 1981
Apsáalooke (Crow / Absaroke)
Plains
negative 2006; print July 1, 2014
Archival pigment print on Museo silver rag on Dibond
4/15
Sheet: 35 1/2 × 40 in. (90.2 × 101.6 cm)
Image: 31 1/2 × 36 in. (80 × 91.4 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Purchased through the Acquisition and Preservation of Native American Art Fund
© Wendy Red Star
2014.50.2
Printer
The Lab, Minneapolis
Geography
Place Made: United States, North America
Period
21st century
Object Name
Photograph
Research Area
Native American
Photograph
Native American: Plains
Not on view
Label
Wendy Red Star, in Winter, asserts her Crow woman’s dignity and authenticity within an Indian Disney-esque "natural," pristine, and staffed museum diorama, complete with fake owls, cardinals, and crows, and paper snowflakes.
This country was founded on the eradication of Native people. We were also, paradoxically, used for tourism to promote the expansion of the West. Really what it all boils down to is humanity. I am always trying to show this in my work. We are human beings. For some reason, Native people are represented as eradicated. . . . It’s worked pretty well. I think people are surprised when they find a Native person because in the consciousness of America we don’t exist. We are these mythical creatures. . . . I moved to Los Angeles in 2004 from Montana. . . . I was struck by the lack of natural environment in the city of Los Angeles and I was also lonely for home. . . . I took a trip to the Los Angeles Natural History Museum to look at the Native American section. I saw one of my Crow ancestor’s moccasin’s on display in a glass case. . . . I strolled through the dioramas and found in them the same cold quality as the display of my ancestor’s moccasin. I decided to construct my own version of a diorama and to convey how this format of display makes me feel. I fabricated four elaborate sets, one for each season, complete with plastic inflatable woodland creatures and 1970s photo mural mountain ranges. — Wendy Red Star
From the 2019 exhibition Portrait of the Artist as an Indian / Portrait of the Indian as an Artist, guest curated by Rayna Green
Course History
WRIT 5, Family Memoir, Ellen Rockmore, Winter 2015
WRIT 8, Writing with Media, Kenneth Bauer, Spring 2015
SART 30, SART 75, Photography II and III, Virginia Beahan, Spring 2019
ANTH 3, Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, Chelsey Kivland, Spring 2019
ANTH 3.01, Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, Chelsey Kivland, Fall 2019
ANTH 3.02, Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, Chelsey Kivland, Fall 2019
NAS 30.21, Native American Art and Material, Jami Powell, Spring 2021
Art History 48.02, Histories of Photography, Katie Hornstein, Spring 2024
Exhibition History
About Face: Self-Portraiture in Contemporary Art, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 23-August 30, 2015.
Portrait of the Artist as an Indian / Portrait of the Indian as as Artist, Harteveldt Family Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, October 22, 2019 - February 23, 2020.
Provenance
Bockley Gallery, Minneapolis, Minnisota; sold to present collection, 2014.
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