Post by blackcrowheart on Dec 7, 2006 12:30:15 GMT -5
"City Indians" use art to stake their claim by Marianne Combs
<http://minnesota.publicradio.org/tools/search/author/author_collection.\
php?aut_id=12> , Minnesota Public Radio November 15, 2006
minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2006/11/15/cityindians/
<http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2006/11/15/cityindians/>
Listen to feature audio
<http://www.publicradio.org/tools/media/player/news/features/2006/11/14_\
combs_cityindians> [Larger view]
<http://minnesota.publicradio.org/standard/display/slideshow.php?ftrv_id\
=30457&slide=4> Viewers at the Ancient Trader's Gallery are invited to
create a new map of the Twin Cities, sharing their own memories and
stories of Native American ife. (MPR Photo/Marianne Combs) View full
slideshow
<http://minnesota.publicradio.org/standard/display/slideshow.php?ftrv_id\
=30457&slide=1> A new exhibit in Minneapolis looks at what it means
to be a "city Indian." For many American Indians it could mean
reclaiming a land that used to be their own.
Minneapolis � Mona Smith says many people think the term "city
Indian" is supposed to be ironic, but in the case of her new exhibit,
it's quite serious. Smith grew up in Red Wing, Minn. Yet she says she
always felt more at home in the Twin Cities. It was only as an adult
that she figured out why.
"This is where the Dakota people began," says Smith. "This is where a
huge part of our history is and is centered. The confluence of the two
rivers is where we actually originated as a people."
[Larger view]
<http://minnesota.publicradio.org/standard/display/slideshow.php?ftrv_id\
=30457&slide=2> Artist Mona Smith
<http://minnesota.publicradio.org/standard/display/slideshow.php?ftrv_id\
=30457&slide=2>
Smith is enrolled in the Sisseton Wahpeton Dakota Community in South
Dakota. She's a multi-media artist and her latest work, at the Ancient
Trader's Gallery in Minneapolis, seeks to give back the Twin Cities to
the Dakota and Ojibwe people.
One of the pieces in the exhibit is a simple, stylized map. At first it
just looks like blue markings on the wall, but upon closer inspection a
viewer can recognize the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers, and
neighboring lakes. There are no modern American place names, just a few
Dakota names and images of Native American life before the land was
completely taken over. On a table in front of the map are some pens and
Post-it notes. Viewers are invited to draw their own images or write
down their memories and attach them to the map. Another map across the
room provides detailed information of Dakota place names for areas that
are now completely urbanized.
"Already at opening I saw happening what I hoped to see happen," says
Smith, "which is people pointing at places and sharing stories with each
other about those places and what they knew about their personal family
history or Dakota history."
On opening night, a steady crowd streamed in and out of the exhibit,
then enjoyed a dinner of Indian tacos in the hallway. One visitor was
Denise Renee Marlowe, who was born and raised in south Minneapolis and
is one-quarter Lakota. She's worked at Northwest Airlines for the past
33 years. She says she found the exhibit informative, but sobering. She
hadn't realized that Minneapolis was so important to the Indians. Nor
did she know that Fort Snelling served as a concentration camp for
Indians in the 1860s. But she does remember her father talking about how
he and his brothers and sisters were abused as children living in a
boarding school after their mother died.
"I do know that life for them was different growing up on the farm or in
the boarding school or on the reservation," says Marlowe, "and then
coming to the city... it's sort of a lost environment for them."
[Larger view]
<http://minnesota.publicradio.org/standard/display/slideshow.php?ftrv_id\
=30457&slide=3> Two men in a trunk
<http://minnesota.publicradio.org/standard/display/slideshow.php?ftrv_id\
=30457&slide=3>
Marlowe is an example of someone who's succeeded in the modern city. But
there are many others who haven't made the transition. The centerpiece
of the City Indians exhibit is the back half of an automobile that's
been made to look like a police car. The trunk lid is open. It's an
allusion to the 1993 incident in which police officers stuck two
full-grown Indian men into their trunk to transport them to the station.
Marlowe says she came to the exhibit specifically to see the car.
"To know that two live men who were very inebriated who were put in the
trunk with the lid locked shut...how awful for them and how degrading,"
says Marlowe.
Artist Mona Smith says she and other Indian people have a hard time
imagining such a thing happening to any other race.
"And it's become a centerpoint for Indian people in the city," says
Smith. "Both something that we turn around in our own conversations with
a dark humor, and that when we talk about it in certain safe places,
tears come. It's become a really potent symbol for us, and so it felt
like a really good opportunity to turn the symbol around."
[Larger view]
<http://minnesota.publicradio.org/standard/display/slideshow.php?ftrv_id\
=30457&slide=1> Listening to Indians
<http://minnesota.publicradio.org/standard/display/slideshow.php?ftrv_id\
=30457&slide=1>
Smith has projected a video into the trunk of the car. When people look
in, they see everyday Indian people talking about their lives, and how
they were affected by the 1993 incident. Smith says she's attempting to
convert the trunk from a symbol of abuse to a place where voices are
heard.
She says Indians aren't listened to very often; you don't find them
sharing stories on the TV. So she felt it was important to give a voice
to people who are often unheard. City Indians runs through January 27.
Afterward, Smith says, pieces of this exhibit will be used as part of a
larger project to teach Native history in schools.
<http://minnesota.publicradio.org/tools/search/author/author_collection.\
php?aut_id=12> , Minnesota Public Radio November 15, 2006
minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2006/11/15/cityindians/
<http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2006/11/15/cityindians/>
Listen to feature audio
<http://www.publicradio.org/tools/media/player/news/features/2006/11/14_\
combs_cityindians> [Larger view]
<http://minnesota.publicradio.org/standard/display/slideshow.php?ftrv_id\
=30457&slide=4> Viewers at the Ancient Trader's Gallery are invited to
create a new map of the Twin Cities, sharing their own memories and
stories of Native American ife. (MPR Photo/Marianne Combs) View full
slideshow
<http://minnesota.publicradio.org/standard/display/slideshow.php?ftrv_id\
=30457&slide=1> A new exhibit in Minneapolis looks at what it means
to be a "city Indian." For many American Indians it could mean
reclaiming a land that used to be their own.
Minneapolis � Mona Smith says many people think the term "city
Indian" is supposed to be ironic, but in the case of her new exhibit,
it's quite serious. Smith grew up in Red Wing, Minn. Yet she says she
always felt more at home in the Twin Cities. It was only as an adult
that she figured out why.
"This is where the Dakota people began," says Smith. "This is where a
huge part of our history is and is centered. The confluence of the two
rivers is where we actually originated as a people."
[Larger view]
<http://minnesota.publicradio.org/standard/display/slideshow.php?ftrv_id\
=30457&slide=2> Artist Mona Smith
<http://minnesota.publicradio.org/standard/display/slideshow.php?ftrv_id\
=30457&slide=2>
Smith is enrolled in the Sisseton Wahpeton Dakota Community in South
Dakota. She's a multi-media artist and her latest work, at the Ancient
Trader's Gallery in Minneapolis, seeks to give back the Twin Cities to
the Dakota and Ojibwe people.
One of the pieces in the exhibit is a simple, stylized map. At first it
just looks like blue markings on the wall, but upon closer inspection a
viewer can recognize the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers, and
neighboring lakes. There are no modern American place names, just a few
Dakota names and images of Native American life before the land was
completely taken over. On a table in front of the map are some pens and
Post-it notes. Viewers are invited to draw their own images or write
down their memories and attach them to the map. Another map across the
room provides detailed information of Dakota place names for areas that
are now completely urbanized.
"Already at opening I saw happening what I hoped to see happen," says
Smith, "which is people pointing at places and sharing stories with each
other about those places and what they knew about their personal family
history or Dakota history."
On opening night, a steady crowd streamed in and out of the exhibit,
then enjoyed a dinner of Indian tacos in the hallway. One visitor was
Denise Renee Marlowe, who was born and raised in south Minneapolis and
is one-quarter Lakota. She's worked at Northwest Airlines for the past
33 years. She says she found the exhibit informative, but sobering. She
hadn't realized that Minneapolis was so important to the Indians. Nor
did she know that Fort Snelling served as a concentration camp for
Indians in the 1860s. But she does remember her father talking about how
he and his brothers and sisters were abused as children living in a
boarding school after their mother died.
"I do know that life for them was different growing up on the farm or in
the boarding school or on the reservation," says Marlowe, "and then
coming to the city... it's sort of a lost environment for them."
[Larger view]
<http://minnesota.publicradio.org/standard/display/slideshow.php?ftrv_id\
=30457&slide=3> Two men in a trunk
<http://minnesota.publicradio.org/standard/display/slideshow.php?ftrv_id\
=30457&slide=3>
Marlowe is an example of someone who's succeeded in the modern city. But
there are many others who haven't made the transition. The centerpiece
of the City Indians exhibit is the back half of an automobile that's
been made to look like a police car. The trunk lid is open. It's an
allusion to the 1993 incident in which police officers stuck two
full-grown Indian men into their trunk to transport them to the station.
Marlowe says she came to the exhibit specifically to see the car.
"To know that two live men who were very inebriated who were put in the
trunk with the lid locked shut...how awful for them and how degrading,"
says Marlowe.
Artist Mona Smith says she and other Indian people have a hard time
imagining such a thing happening to any other race.
"And it's become a centerpoint for Indian people in the city," says
Smith. "Both something that we turn around in our own conversations with
a dark humor, and that when we talk about it in certain safe places,
tears come. It's become a really potent symbol for us, and so it felt
like a really good opportunity to turn the symbol around."
[Larger view]
<http://minnesota.publicradio.org/standard/display/slideshow.php?ftrv_id\
=30457&slide=1> Listening to Indians
<http://minnesota.publicradio.org/standard/display/slideshow.php?ftrv_id\
=30457&slide=1>
Smith has projected a video into the trunk of the car. When people look
in, they see everyday Indian people talking about their lives, and how
they were affected by the 1993 incident. Smith says she's attempting to
convert the trunk from a symbol of abuse to a place where voices are
heard.
She says Indians aren't listened to very often; you don't find them
sharing stories on the TV. So she felt it was important to give a voice
to people who are often unheard. City Indians runs through January 27.
Afterward, Smith says, pieces of this exhibit will be used as part of a
larger project to teach Native history in schools.