Today I had to politely decline an invitation from a curator from the Arizona State Museum at U of A for an art show titled,“Contemporary Indian Artists Respond to the Imagery of Edward S. Curtis”, simply because my work has never been done as an answer to the vision that Curtis has left on society, AND I am no contemporary Indian artist because Im not from India. I just like to photograph our people and our vibrant culture for whom they truly are today, simply because it is what needs to be done. Our cultures are strength and solution based, if we continue to empower ourselves through our own cultures to create art and properly represent ourselves, we’ll automatically cure false stereotypes. Being reactive from a negative place as a whole, has never helped anyone in the past to succeed. Addressing the issue itself is nothing new, and even in contention we’re still perpetuating what it stands for. Sure it needs to be addressed in certain instances, but not always. This is something commonly practiced by others such as my sister Matika Wilbur- who also declined the show- and has a body of work that is a much better representation of our people then mine. I’m not really concerned about what western institutions think of my work. As long as the people like it and find inspiration, then I’m in alignment with my mission and vision. P.S. -I found it ironic that the person who emailed me had a quote at the end of their email that read: Do not seek to change what has come before. Seek to create that which has not.
Posted on: Fri, 25 Jul 2014 21:50:53 +0000
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