Post by Okwes on May 1, 2006 18:21:05 GMT -5
Artist: Vandals missed message of Ohlone mural
Controversial piece depicting Indians' struggle is defaced
By Kristin Bender, STAFF WRITER
www.insidebayarea.com/localnews/ci_3749260
<http://www.insidebayarea.com/localnews/ci_3749260>
OAKLAND â€" Police are trying to find out who used red spray paint
to deface a wall-sized public mural about the oppression of the Ohlone
Indians.
Oakland muralist Rocky Baird completed the 25-by-10-foot mural on the
side of Gaylord's Caffe Espresso at 41st Street and Piedmont Avenue in
February.
Since then, he has heard from a few people upset that the mural features
a naked American Indian man.
Some also claim Baird lacked cultural sensitivity when painting the
Ohlone figures, which critics say do not accurately depict American
Indians.
Over the weekend, someone spray-painted "ignorance is no excuse for
racism" and "ignorance" on lower parts of the mural. Eyes of a
missionary and a boy on the mural were filled in with red paint, Baird
said.
"They wrote exactly what my mural is about. It's crazy," said Baird, 30.
"It's like spray painting the word 'car' on a car."
Baird said the vandals clearly did not understand the mural is about the
oppression of American Indians throughout modern time.
"The Capture of the Solid. The Escape of the Soul" is about people's
perceptions and their attachments to those perceptions, Baird said.
"The Franciscans show up, and their perception is (the American Indians)
are people without clothing and (without) Christianity," Baird said in
arecent interview about the mural. "And their perception is if they
don't have Christianity, they must be lost. I don't think they had any
evil intentions. They thought they were doing what was best. ... It was
their perceptions."
Tim Haggerty, with the Piedmont Avenue Merchants Association, said the
graffiti
Controversial piece depicting Indians' struggle is defaced
By Kristin Bender, STAFF WRITER
www.insidebayarea.com/localnews/ci_3749260
<http://www.insidebayarea.com/localnews/ci_3749260>
OAKLAND â€" Police are trying to find out who used red spray paint
to deface a wall-sized public mural about the oppression of the Ohlone
Indians.
Oakland muralist Rocky Baird completed the 25-by-10-foot mural on the
side of Gaylord's Caffe Espresso at 41st Street and Piedmont Avenue in
February.
Since then, he has heard from a few people upset that the mural features
a naked American Indian man.
Some also claim Baird lacked cultural sensitivity when painting the
Ohlone figures, which critics say do not accurately depict American
Indians.
Over the weekend, someone spray-painted "ignorance is no excuse for
racism" and "ignorance" on lower parts of the mural. Eyes of a
missionary and a boy on the mural were filled in with red paint, Baird
said.
"They wrote exactly what my mural is about. It's crazy," said Baird, 30.
"It's like spray painting the word 'car' on a car."
Baird said the vandals clearly did not understand the mural is about the
oppression of American Indians throughout modern time.
"The Capture of the Solid. The Escape of the Soul" is about people's
perceptions and their attachments to those perceptions, Baird said.
"The Franciscans show up, and their perception is (the American Indians)
are people without clothing and (without) Christianity," Baird said in
arecent interview about the mural. "And their perception is if they
don't have Christianity, they must be lost. I don't think they had any
evil intentions. They thought they were doing what was best. ... It was
their perceptions."
Tim Haggerty, with the Piedmont Avenue Merchants Association, said the
graffiti