Stories, Visions and Memory: Contemporary Southeastern Indian Art
'Stories, Visions and Memory: Contemporary Southeastern Indian Art,' with work by Native artists Bobby Martin, Tony Tiger and Erin Shaw, is on display throughout the lobby level of Mullins Library until April 26.
Martin is an enrolled member of the Muscogee (Creek) tribe and is highly involved in the contemporary Native art world. His work has been exhibited and collected internationally.
“These images are my lifeline to a past and a history that I didn't discover until well into adulthood, things we rarely spoke about, but that I now realize are a source of inspiration and pride for our family,” said Martin, whose work in this exhibit is based on his personal family photos.
Chickasaw-Choctaw artist Erin Shaw creates in a state of tension, suspended between two worlds. Humor pervades her art and reveals truths in unanticipated ways.
“My work as an artist rests in this simple assertion: We are collectors of stories, and the stories we collect shape the people we are,” said Shaw. “I work in this manner that I might see things in a new way.'
Tony A. Tiger is an enrolled member of the Sac and Fox Tribe of Oklahoma with Seminole and Muscogee (Creek) lineage. He is a painter, mixed media and conceptual artist, independent art curator and art educator who is active in the Southeastern Indian Artist Association and his community.
“Because of pop culture and TV, we have these visions in our head of what the [Native American] culture is, but it's so different today,” said Tiger. “We're really trying with this body of work to show what it means to be a Native American in the 21st century.'
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