Twisted Path III: Questions of Balance at the Abbe Museum, Bar Harbor, Maine Reviewed by Laurie E. Hicks Artists have a long history of creating work in relationship to nature. The images and forms they create have, in some cases, had a profound impact on our cultural consciousness of nature. They have become part of the way we understand, talk about, and act in response to our contemporary environmental situation. Art, as a result, becomes a form of “nature talk,” a type of speech that is fully situated within particular histories and cultural experiences. As such, what an individual depicts and how are obviously not only personal expressions of the artist but are social practices, created and viewed from within cultural knowledge and conditions. Twisted Path III: Questions of Balance, an exhibition of contemporary art, presents an opportunity to consider the “nature talk” of a small group of Native American artists whose work is intimately associated with their views of nature and concerns about the destruction of the environment. Housed in the Abbe Museum, a renovated historic building in Bar Harbor, Maine, whose primary focus is Maine’s Native American culture and a “broader Native American experience,” the exhibition, Twisted Path III: Questions of Balance, curated by Rick Hunt (Abenaki) brings together the work of nine artists whose diverse cultural histories and experiences provide an interweaving of views and con- cerns about our environment. Through a coming together of different perspectives, media, and processes, the exhibition creates a strong sense of common cause and a voice that clearly articulates the need for us to reflect on what it means to live in relationship to nature and our place on earth. Even before entering the gallery, the viewer is drawn in by the visual richness and intensity of Will Wilson’s (Diné) photograph, Auto Immune Response #5, one of seven images that speak to an idealized relationship “between a post-apocalyptic Diné (Navajo) man and the devastatingly beautiful, but toxic environment he inha- bits” (Abbe Museum 2014, Figure 1). Wilson’s photographic montages of panoramic landscapes into which he has inserted his own image create a dystopic narrative where humans can no longer live in harmonic relationship with the land. Wilson’s images are alarming, provoca- tively beautiful, and painfully disturbing. In Auto Immune Response #5, Wilson uses a double image of himself to reach out and draw us into his post-apocalyptic land- scape, a world that is vulnerable and highly toxic. From behind a veil of gas masks, Wilson’s unblinking gaze challenges us to acknowledge our culpability in the destruction of this land and adds to the haunting power of his imagery. Turning from Wilson’s photographs the viewer becomes a listener, attending to the sounds of indigenous drums and chants alternating with techno-electronic beats that come from the work of Nicholas Galanin (Tlingit/Aleut). Galanin’s photographs and video installation “create a commentary on the intersections of the modern world and Tlingit cultural expression.” In his contrasting video pieces, Tsu Héidei Shugax- tutaan I and II (youtube/watch?v=Ue30aKV1LF8 & youtube/watch?v=Vg2c1jtm59o), Galanin maps the illusionary dance move- ments of David “Elsewhere” Bernal onto “a traditional Tlingit entrance song” and the traditional Tlingit Raven dance, as performed by Dan Littlefield, onto con- temporary techno-electronic beat. It creates a provocative, unsettling, and mesmer- izing juxtaposition that highlights the coming together of “the modern world and Tlingit cultural expression” (Abbe Museum 2014). Though less overtly connected to natural environmental concerns than the work of Will Wilson, Galanin’s imagery seems to emerge from a collision between the artistic and cultural traditions of his Tlingit/Aleut heritage and engagement with contemporary urban experience. Both performances respond to particular times and places, and reflect an awareness of the creative and potentially controversial interplay between traditional and contemporary cultural environments. The work of Gabriel Frey (Passamaquoddy), a painter and twelfth-generation brown ash basket maker, speaks directly to the “connectivity and reciprocity” of his worldview (Abbe Museum 2014). Frey’s paintings reflect interconnections between diverse traditions, integrating imagery associated with Navaho sand paint- ing with a more European form of portraiture. Like sand painting, his images, figure 1 Will Wilson, Auto Immune Response #5, 2005. 148 Exhibition Reviews especially that of his grandfather who taught him to make baskets, has a spiritual and living quality. These same qualities can be seen in his brown ash pack basket, which is an impressive example of traditional processes, attentive to the continu- ation or passing on of long established techniques and ways of understanding the significance of such forms. Like Frey, Vera Longtoe (Abenaki) draws on traditional techniques and forms of basket making. Grounded in these cultural processes but responding to our contem- porary environmental challenges, Longtoe incorporates discarded materials in the creation of basket forms. Her use of contemporary recycled materials in traditional ways seems to emerge directly from her view that “Native People…are stewards of the environment” (Abbe Museum 2014). Her work speaks softly but with clear intent, reminding us that all resources must be used judiciously and with a sense of responsibility. Shane Perley-Dutcher (Wolastoq, Maliseet) uses his art to connect to the land and the traditions of his culture. As a metal smith, Perley-Dutcher has developed a way of creating that is respectful to and inspired by his culture. His intricate and graceful pieces bring together traditional forms and symbols in new and compelling ways. His agility as an artist is clear, as is the importance he places on his bond to the land, a bond he holds as sacred. Gina Brooks’ (Maliseet) drawings and paintings emerge out of Wabanaki material and spiritual culture. Powerful pen and ink drawings of such figures as Polam (Salmon) or Putep (Whale) draw on the distinctive designs of traditional stories and symbolic forms. Through the rendering of her images, Brooks embraces the rich cultural language of the Wabanaki in an effort to draw attention to contempor- ary issues. Her images seek to “call on the people of the earth to write a new story in the language of the old ones” and to “give thanks to the earth for everything it gives” (Abbe Museum 2014). Patricia Michaels’ (Taos Pueblo) fashion designs are captivating and clearly reflect her own history and cultural experience. Even though each design tells a personal story, they also create a narrative that evolves with each viewer. For Michaels, “Each design tells a story. Just as a river is pierced by a tree branch, time is momentarily anchored within the garment” (Abbe Museum 2014). Though the direct connections to the environment are made clear by her use of natural materials, the fuller story is left to the viewer to create. Rick Hunt (Abenaki), curator of the exhibition, has only included one of his own paintings, Balance: Diabetes. Hunt’s disconcerting image of a “‘traditional’ Native man who represents a healthy relationship with nature” is complicated by his head- dress of syringes. The image speaks directly to the ways in which our bodies respond to both physical and cultural disruptions of our relationship with the earth. When the earth is out of balance so too are our bodies; the medicine of nature is replaced by industrial medicine. Integrating photography with traditional Cherokee basket making, Shan Goshorn’s (Eastern Band Cherokee) works speak with great clarity about critical issues of human rights and contemporary native concerns. Through her art, Goshorn addresses controversial policies that have adversely impacted Native iden- tities, seeking to open and promote honest dialogue. Using Cherokee single and Exhibition Reviews 149 double-weave techniques, she brings together traditional patterns with images that focus our attention on policies such as the Indian Removal Act of 1830 (Figure 2) or the forced education of more than 10,000 children who were sent to boarding schools for the purpose of cultural assimilation. Goshorn’s baskets are provocative, intelligent, and inspiring. Though mostly reflecting historical events, she skillfully draws our attention to contemporary issues and our need to come to terms with the relationship between human rights and the sustainability of our world. The relationships of native peoples to the natural environment are often roman- ticized, and they are assimilated by mainstream culture in ways that do not always represent the diversity of practices and intentions in native communities. This exhibition, Twisted Path III: Questions of Balance, housed in a museum dedi- cated to the preservation and exhibition of native cultures, is significant, therefore, because it creates a space for contemporary Native American perspectives on the environment to be heard through the works of these nine artists. The works presented in Twisted Path III: Questions of Balance challenge viewers to consider and reconsider conceptions of nature and humanity, and the intersection figure 2 Shan Goshorn, Preparing for the Fall, 2012. 150 Exhibition Reviews of cultural traditions and the material world. As persuasive, yet often subtle forms of “nature talk,” these works represent creative and aesthetic practices that reflect diverse understandings of our relationship to the environments we inhabit. The work leaves viewers with questions concerning the makeup of our own “nature talk” and pushes us to consider how prepared we are to re-think the human and environmental ramifications of the speech we use to identify and communicate our own place in the social and natural world. Twisted Path III: Questions of Balance is an impressive exhibition that is well worth the trip. About the Author Dr. Laurie E. Hicks is professor of art at the University of Maine where she teaches art education theory and practice, and graduate research methods, and serves as curator of the Lord Hall Gallery. Reference Abbe Museum. 2014. Wall Text and Object Labels for Twisted Path III: Questions of Balance. Bar Harbor, ME. Exhibition Reviews 151 Tsu Heidei Shugaxtutaan 1 youtube
Posted on: Mon, 29 Sep 2014 23:07:02 +0000
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