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Our Indians
James Luna, Project Director
Project Website The title for this multimedia installation is a slogan commonly used to address American Indians. Though the slogan attempts to claim Indian history and cultures as part of the American cultural and historical experience, this artist believes that it lays claim for the misuse and wholesale purchase of Indian cultures without reguard for the sacred, the respected, and the honored aspects of Indian cultures. In addition, he believes it reduces Indian peoples and their ways to commercial commodities that can be bought and sold for labels on numerous commercial goods and services. The Indian commercial phenomenon is unique to Indian cultures, as other ethnic cultures are not used, or certainly not abused, to this extent in this country. This tragedy of cultural disrespect is a national issue, but it is a particular issue, ironically, in Indian Country (geographic areas where there are large population concentrations of Indian peoples). In the greater Phoenix/Tempe areas of Arizona, one can find these displays of Indian commercial icons in such abundance that one just forgets the demeaning nature and the extent of their use. It is the theme and objective of this multimedia installation to examine, expose, and explore the politically incorrect, disrespectful, and tasteless use of Indian imagery in commercial service. Luna developed the theme and physical structure of the installation. With the assistance of volunteers from the ASU Indian community and others, he coordinated the production of the piece. Volunteers who have expertise in given areas were able to create their own projects within the bigger project. Persons from all academic disciplines were encouraged to participate, as the installation needed technical assistance from all areas. It was a goal of the artist, whenever possible to delegate assignments to teams and team leaders as this project was a project between artist and community. The goal of this project was to engage ASU Native American students in a process of artmaking which explores their relationship to traditional and contemporary issues. College credit was given to volunteers who committed to the project and formally registered for the course. |
