Myths, Home and Self-Portraiture
When we went to the Newark Museum, a lot of us were astonished by the weight Wendy Red Star and Kambui Olujimi's work portrayed. A weight that imposed themes of identity, home, personal narrative and mythology in a form of expressive and captivating art and sculpture. One piece that stood out to me the most was My Home is Where My Tipi Sits (Sweat Lodges), 2011 - because of how it connected to the sculptural piece of the sweat lodge. I realized that being able to physically connect with an experience so personal and engaging brought light to the documentation of the different types of sweat lodges. It was a chance where the viewer could conceptually visualize the cultural identity connected to the sweat lodges. The interior of the sweat lodge is a communal space of rejuvenation and prayer that includes for cycles of pouring water over rocks heated over an open fire outside the lodge. The cycles symbolically reference the four seasons, the four directions, and the four components of the world and are thus inherently tied to the land. Stepping into something that would not normally be a comfort zone for many successfully portrayed Wendy Red Star's motives and personal narrative. Along with different types of "Tipi's" there was a collection of churches that resembled a tipi in the architecture. The arrow, shelter like roof was in the shape that mythological culture would present the shape of tipis. The whole ideal of having a communal space of rejuvenation and prayer that is somehow tied with the land it's on became the concept on how this cultural identity is similar to many of our cultures in regards to having a comfort zone. Being part of a community where we can feel as if we have belonging. How our beliefs, narratives and identities all collide into one and that is how we identify our selves. Wendy Red Star's work and it's way of showing viewers how life as a Native American was really connects to the self-portrait projects that we are creating because we are curating the indifference in the myths and the actual culture itself. How our cultural communities stand and how their beliefs are they way we represent ourselves to others. My family is from Venezuela and there is currently a myth that the economy prospers in socialism. If you don't know where Venezuela's economy stands now they are at a 1,000,000% rate of inflation with no resources, food, power or medicine because of the crisis that arose from Nicolas Maduro's presidency. It's a little bit of a far stretch but if given economy another name that could represent the gender roles in a Venezuelan house hold, I could tie it back to something like "a creative woman [does not] prosper in socialism." Further explaining my self-portrait, I would play upon the idea of how me branching out into the art community instead of staying home with the strict and authoritative roles for women in a Venezuelan household, helped shaped me to who I am today.
When we went to the Newark Museum, a lot of us were astonished by the weight Wendy Red Star and Kambui Olujimi's work portrayed. A weight that imposed themes of identity, home, personal narrative and mythology in a form of expressive and captivating art and sculpture. One piece that stood out to me the most was My Home is Where My Tipi Sits (Sweat Lodges), 2011 - because of how it connected to the sculptural piece of the sweat lodge. I realized that being able to physically connect with an experience so personal and engaging brought light to the documentation of the different types of sweat lodges. It was a chance where the viewer could conceptually visualize the cultural identity connected to the sweat lodges. The interior of the sweat lodge is a communal space of rejuvenation and prayer that includes for cycles of pouring water over rocks heated over an open fire outside the lodge. The cycles symbolically reference the four seasons, the four directions, and the four components of the world and are thus inherently tied to the land. Stepping into something that would not normally be a comfort zone for many successfully portrayed Wendy Red Star's motives and personal narrative. Along with different types of "Tipi's" there was a collection of churches that resembled a tipi in the architecture. The arrow, shelter like roof was in the shape that mythological culture would present the shape of tipis. The whole ideal of having a communal space of rejuvenation and prayer that is somehow tied with the land it's on became the concept on how this cultural identity is similar to many of our cultures in regards to having a comfort zone. Being part of a community where we can feel as if we have belonging. How our beliefs, narratives and identities all collide into one and that is how we identify our selves. Wendy Red Star's work and it's way of showing viewers how life as a Native American was really connects to the self-portrait projects that we are creating because we are curating the indifference in the myths and the actual culture itself. How our cultural communities stand and how their beliefs are they way we represent ourselves to others. My family is from Venezuela and there is currently a myth that the economy prospers in socialism. If you don't know where Venezuela's economy stands now they are at a 1,000,000% rate of inflation with no resources, food, power or medicine because of the crisis that arose from Nicolas Maduro's presidency. It's a little bit of a far stretch but if given economy another name that could represent the gender roles in a Venezuelan house hold, I could tie it back to something like "a creative woman [does not] prosper in socialism." Further explaining my self-portrait, I would play upon the idea of how me branching out into the art community instead of staying home with the strict and authoritative roles for women in a Venezuelan household, helped shaped me to who I am today.
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