I am an Indian First and an Artist Second
This series is drawn from a current controversy in contemporary American Indian art that positions artists that claim their Native ancestry against those that prefer to minimize or even deny their Native heritage. This debate has come to be known as the “post-Indian” issue.
I question if a denial of one’s cultural background is generated by mainstream Western art norms or if it is a form of identity genocide. Why do American Indian artists both claim Native ancestry (by utilizing Indian symbols or entering shows specifically geared towards Indian artists) and simultaneously reject classification as American Indian artists? This series addresses the tensions and multiplicity of identity referents currently at play in the context of our perceived “post-race” country.
I am using plastic toy Indians and the genre of abstraction as a metaphor for what I perceive as a form of identity genocide. These photographs are scans of the bottom stands of these plastic toy Indians. I wanted to play with the fact that from above the Indian figures are fighting with one another, which the viewer cannot see. The perspective of the abstracted bases allows only a surface rendering of the complexity of Native identity in the 21st century.
Tom Jones
© Tom Jones, II