Are you Native? Why Indians?
I get those questions often. I can answer the first quickly. No. I am not Native.
The second question requires a little more explanation. I’ve always admired the art and culture of the American Indian and I have had opportunities to interact with a number of tribes...selling printing to Indian Casinos and High School Yearbooks to Indian schools on reservations. Those interactions deepened my respect and prompted me to learn more. It’s a rich and dark history. They have endured much and done so with dignity and pride.
But then I realized the story is even bigger. It’s the story of the demise of indigenous peoples worldwide in the face of what some call “progress”. And it’s the story of the demise of the planet we all share. It’s a story in which we all play a part and will all share the consequences of our actions.
These pieces are, in some small way, my effort to tell this story so that it might have a better ending. They say art should disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed. Maybe this does that. It is my hope that it gives a voice to those that have been silenced, eyes to those who do not see and a heart to those who do not want to care.