Myths, Home and Self-Portraits

   ACM Colloquium: Exhibition Responses
   Jenna Arvelo


       Being initially greeted by Wendy Red Star’s exhibition was like walking into a shrine of remembrance. The exhibition itself was like a home in itself with a literal representation of a Crow sweat lodge in the center of the exhibition, sitting as a resting spot set aside from the rest of the exhibition. What I appreciated most was Red Star’s individual voice resonating through hand written messages and intricate details about her culture and her family and the nuances of tradition that make up this beautiful culture. The handwritten details captured Red Star’s own individual voice as both a person whom is part of this culture and as an individual separate from the collective tribe as she goes on to critique what specific culture customs may personally mean to her as an individual. What made this exhibition so provoking to me were the portraits of individual Crow members and the written descriptions of who they were and why they were remembered. These specific portraits stuck with me most because the artist was quite literally hand marking the significance of each member as both individuals and assets whom had relevance to their culture.

Wendy Red Star ‘Pleanty Coups’ 1880 Crow Peace Delegation

Wendy Red Star 1880 Crow Peace Delegation

    I had no prior knowledge of what the planetarium screening would be like since I was sort of a first timer for such an experience. The actual viewing was quite a bit to take in. The was a flooding of imagery and visuals and a voice that guided the narrative of the story being projected over my head. The visuals were vibrant and textured; clashing and collapsing into one another like a collage would. The actual narration of the story was difficult to keep up with between the disembodied voice and the distortion of the projected images.
      Yet  I couldn’t help but appreciate how attractive the images were; how within each figure or depiction, was an environment within it; like jelly fish, the ocean, the sky, or buildings. It influenced how these characters felt in viewing them. To be a figure with no race or an assumed age portrayed as this entity that projects the physical world around them as their form is such an interesting aspect that captured my attention and appealed to my humanity.
    From what I could follow from the narrative, there were several pivotal moments that felt very deliberately political that related to inner city life which was almost surreal being told as a story in the stars as something that feels present in such an ancient way of storytelling. The constellation aspect of it all is what really excited me the most about this exhibition; particularly the rewriting over stories already told in turn for something more modern in both the material and subject.