Myths, Home and Self-Portraiture

           The works of Wendy Red Star and Kambui Olujimi that we had the chance to see at the Newark Museum gave an interesting view on the topics we have been studying in class. Their unique perspectives of themselves and their culture served to give a better sense of what self-portraiture and how far an artist can push the limits of possibility in order to express themselves. I was especially effected by Olujimi’s work.

            First looking at the work of Wendy Red Star, I believe her pieces were mostly straightforward. She kept an archive of information and history on her ancestors and the Crow people overall. This allowed her to present this information in her own way, such as the portraits of various figures of the Crow with writing and drawings over their images giving additional perspective into them. The timeline following the Crow through the years was humorous at a few points. The “zoo softies” based on the drawings of Crow children were of particular interest to me. Mostly due to my interest in stuffed toys overall, but they provided interesting insight into that side of her culture. There were also the four pictures of Red Star in the four seasons, which I believe was not only for self-expression but also shows the connection to nature that her people have.

            The works of Kambui Olujimi were a bit more difficult for me to understand. They were not as straightforward as Wendy Red Star’s and involved a lot more mythological concepts and metaphor. It did get me to think more though. The stories that he created using the imagery and concepts we saw in the planetarium show were amazingly creative, if not a bit baffling. I am a fan of abstract concepts, especially those in expressionists cinema, but I had a hard time keeping up with the show. It made more sense once I read the pieces that were outside the planetarium, along the walls.

            Mythology from your own culture can serve as a way to communicate that part of yourself in your art. While that makes sense to me, I do not think I’d be interested in using my own culture as a significant part of my own self-portrait as I do not identify much with it. I do very much want to use symbolism and metaphor in my piece, but I do not see my own culture as having part of that. Individuality and the merging of different ideals and culture are concepts I identify with, so as such they will be represented in my self-portrait, as opposed to having a focus on my own cultural heritage.

            The striking imagery of Olujimi’s work is definitely inspiring to me, and I believe will have an influence on my self-portrait. It will be through different means, but the idea of it being a visual piece (in this case, video) is similar. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for the work of Wendy Red Star, at least when pertaining to my project.