Summer, from The Four Seasons series

Label

Wendy Red Star, in Summer, asserts her Crow woman’s dignity and authenticity within an Indian Disney-esque "natural," pristine, and staged museum diorama, complete with a plaster bison skull, fake deer, and silk flowers.　

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 it’s like 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 ancestors’ moccasins on display in a glass case. . . . I strolled by 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

Course History

SART 17.9, The Photographer as Activist: Making Art Inspired by the Hood Museum's Collection, Virginia Beahan, Winter 2015

WRIT 5, Family Memoir, Ellen Rockmore, Winter 2015

FREN 2, Introductory French II, Kelly McConnell, 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 05, Introduction to Archaeology, Nathaniel Kitchel, Summer 2019

ANTH 3.01, Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, Chelsey Kivland, Fall 2019

ANTH 3.02, Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, Chelsey Kivland, Fall 2019

COCO 21, What's In Your Shoebox?, Francine A'Ness and Prudence Merton, Spring 2020

NAS 30.21, Native American Art and Material, Jami Powell, Spring 2021

First Year Student Enrichment Program, Francine A'Ness, Summer 2021

Art History 63.02, Why Are Museums...?, Mary Coffey, Winter 2023

First Year Student Enrichment Program – Culture, Identity, and Belongings, Francine A'Ness, Summer 2023

First Year Student Enrichment Program, Francine A'Ness, Summer 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 an Artist, Harteveldt Family Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, April 24-July 15, 2019.

Provenance

Bockley Gallery, Minneapolis, Minnisota; sold to present collection, 2014.

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Subjects