Three Artists from the "Persistence of History" Exhibit and how they Relate to my Project

Youklendy Calderon

Professor Cacoilo

Art 263

14 November 2018

Three Artists from the "Persistence of History" Exhibit and how they Relate to my Project

Michael Oatman

Oatman's project, F(armed) (2016,) portrays a battle between traditional farmers and large corporations, which have overshadowed traditional farms with their mass food production mechanisms (e.g. genetically modifying foods, pesticides, automation, etc.). As farmers work by hand planting seeds with their horses and tractors, large corporations begin to stamp their brand names on the farmers' territories. In the distance, the Land O'Lakes logo is blown up by tractors. I find the entire collage very ironic, especially with the inclusion of the Land O'Lakes logo. American farmers' land originally belonged to Native Americans, who respected Earth and used resources wisely, only when necessary. Unfortunately, the European colonists took over the natives' land, wasting many of the land's resources and using African slaves to do the hard work for them. In modern day, the descendants of the plantation owners and European colonists are being forced off 'their' stolen land by their modern 'bullies': corporations. The use of a Native American woman as the representative for the aforementioned dairy company, is in a sense, a false retribution for the murder and abuse of uncountable natives. While small farmers fight for the land and desire to blow up their large-scale competitors, they continue to lose productivity and sales battles. The Natives are in a sense, seeing their abusers lose their stolen land without returning what is rightfully their property, hence the false retribution. Oatman's collage demonstrates the historic battle for American land and the unscrupulous means that have been used to obtain the coveted land. The colonists and plantation owners disregarded the freedom and rights of the natives and African slaves, while corporations disregard small farmer's rights and the health risks associated with their mass food production. This situation is indirectly related to my semester project about natural hair. With the introduction of slavery in the Americas, textured hair was categorized as 'nappy' by colonists as a racial slur in reference to the nap or fuzzy part of cotton plants. Overtime, people of color, especially women, were taught to hate their hair, and their pride and cultural--as expressed through braids, beads, and other traditional styles--were stolen by the colonial mentality. This lead the sales of flat irons, blowers, and permanent chemical hair relaxers to thrive. Fortunately, now that many people of color are returning to their roots, pun intended, the corporations who thrived on the oppression of people of color are fighting the natural hair movement by attempting to create divisions among natural by promoting certain hair textures as more beautiful than others. Nonetheless, the natural hair movement has managed to ward off the majority of these interventions and the growth of minority-owned companies has made hair products made specifically for natural  hair widely available in the Americas.

Debra Priestly

Priestly's Matton 5 (2002) is a collection of preserve jars, pun intended, that individually portray a colored person per jar. The purpose of her projects is to preserve the history of African Americans through everyday objects and rituals. Her project is similar to role of braiding hair among women of African descent. Hair braiding was and is continued to use as a means to store information (e.g. cornrows were used as plantation maps to help slaves escape and store stolen seeds), display culture, continue traditions, and for fashion-purposes. Like the jars, natural hair relays the history of Black cultures and creates a dialog to discuss the past.
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith
Smith's Trade Canoe: The Dark Side (2017-2018), shows the government's responsibility in the destruction of the native people's and trade's abuse of animals, specially buffalo, during the European intrusion of the Americas. An army officer and native warrior sit on opposite sides of the canoe, separated by a mountain of bones. The involvement of both men in the war and the bones capture the oppression and mass murder of the native people at the hands of colonists. The painting is completed with the supernatural judgement of the situation by a solar eclipse, which casts shadows over the face of the army officer and a rainbow over the face of the warrior. The simple yet intense portrayal of several wars between cultures and the negative effects of colonialism, are also discussed by the natural hair movement, which teaches people of color to appreciate their lost culture and textured hair despite the general discouragement from people of European descent.