Shapeshifting: Transformations in Native American Art

Public perception of Native American art and culture has often been derived from misunderstandings and misinterpretations, and from images promulgated by popular culture. Typically, Native Americans are grouped as a whole and their art and culture considered part of the past rather than widely present. Shapeshifting challenges these assumptions by focusing on the objects as art rather than cultural or anthropological artifacts and on the multivalent creativity of Native American artists. The approach highlights the inventive contemporaneity that existed in all periods and continues today. More than 75 works in a wide range of media and scale are organized into four thematic groups: changing—expanding the imagination; knowing—expressing worldview; locating—exploring identity and place; and voicing—engaging the individual. The result is a paradigm shift in understanding Native American art.

"This supplemental volume to the exhibition at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Mass. aims to dispel the notion that Native American art is 'predictable' and 'lodged in the past.' While traditional values linger, globalization has transformed both production and perception, ensuring that 'artistic and cultural development' not only persists, but flourishes. This confluence of past and present is enacted in many of the pieces featured in this compelling volume, such as Brian Jungen's Cetology, a 50-foot whale skeleton comprising deconstructed plastic patio chairs. Other works deftly comment on the usurpation of traditional forms of documentation, as in Dwayne Wilcox's After Two or Three Hundred Years You Will Not Notice — a contemporary riff on Plains-style ledger art featuring a U.S. government official shackling a red, white, and blue ball and chain to a Native America's leg; and Rebecca Belmore's Fringe — a striking photograph of a reclining woman with a gash that runs the length of her back and is sewed up with thread and red beads. Interspersed with the artwork are illuminating essays by critics, curators, and artists, and each piece is accompanied by a brief but informative blurb. Russell and her colleagues admirably achieve their goal of asserting the vibrant relevancy of Native American art in this stunning book that will appeal to a general audience, as well as art aficionados. Color illus. (Feb.)" Publishers Weekly Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Karen Kramer Russell is curator of Native American art and culture at the Peabody Essex Museum and president of the Native American Art Studies Association.