Wednesday

Cara Romero (b. 1977, Inglewood, CA) is a contemporary fine art photographer. An enrolled citizen of the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe, Romero was raised between contrasting settings: the rural Chemehuevi reservation in Mojave Desert, CA and the urban sprawl of Houston, TX. Romero’s identity informs her photography, a blend of fine art and editorial photography, shaped by years of study and a visceral approach to representing Indigenous and non-Indigenous cultural memory, collective history, and lived experiences from a Native American female perspective. READ MORE…

As an Indigenous photographer, I embrace photography as my tool to resist Eurocentric narratives and as a means for opening audiences’ perspectives to the fascinating diversity of living Indigenous peoples. My approach fuses time-honored and culturally specific symbols with 21st-century ideas. This strategy reinforces the ways we exist as contemporary Native Americans, all the while affirming that Indigenous culture is continually evolving and imminently permanent. READ MORE…

THE LAST INDIAN MARKET

Awards: 1st Place in Photography, Heard Museum

Collections: Autry Museum, Coe Foundation, Denver Art Museum, Tia, Tony Abeyta and Wheelright Museum

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Cara Romero WEBSITE

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Art & Food: C Maxx Stevens, The Last Supper

Indigenous Food / By Jamie Schulze

C.Maxx Stevens is an Installation artist and Seminole/Mvskoke Nation from the Oklahoma Region. Her art is based on memories of family and culture expressed in three dimensional environments using materials, objects, and technology to build a visual narrative.

My artwork is based on memories of family and culture within a three dimensional environment through the use of materials, objects, and technology to build a visual narrative. For the past eight years I have been developing a series of installations based on the issue of diabetes in the native communities. “Last Supper,” a site-specific installation, is a commentary on how the food we are eating today is making a negative impact within our native communities, as diabetes has become an epidemic and we cannot continue to ignore the warnings. One out of every six native people will develop diabetes or be affected by the disease. Based on my family and tribal history this number seems to be low. While the native community is re-educating themselves and trying to change the way that we are eating we are also finding these changes to be double handed. Realistically this isn’t going to happen overnight due to the economics of many native families for many of the food we serve is part of our traditional meal that we are not going to change. Essentially the issue has become a dilemma.

Charlene Maxx Stevens, Last Supper, mixed media installation, 2011.

SE-94; IAIA Museum Purchase, 2012; Courtesy of the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts; Santa Fe; NM.

Photographer: Jason S. Ordaz

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C.Maxx Stevens Deeper Look

Weaving Artist Spotlight: Carol Emarthle Douglas

Indigenous Food / By Jamie Schulze

CAROL EMARTHLE DOUGLAS

Carol Emarthle Douglas considers herself a Traditional & Contemporary basket weaver

She creates baskets that tell a story by design, shape, and use of color. Coiling baskets is an extremely time consuming process, and the baskets she produces in a year’s time are one of a kind.

“My inspiration is taken from my Northern Arapaho and Seminole heritage. I have based some of my designs on the Plains style beadwork, ledger art, and parfleche designs from my mother’s tribe. My father is from the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, and I also incorporate the colors and patterns of Seminole patchwork into my baskets. I am fortunate to have such a rich heritage to draw upon to inspire my work.” READ MORE…