Exhibition Review: Wendy Red Star: Delegation
Indian Woman Sitting, 2005 © Wendy Red Star, Courtesy Sargent’s Daughters Gallery
Written by Federica Barrios Carbonell
Copy Edited by Erin Pedigo
Photo Edited by Lucia Luzzani
When thinking about images of the Native American community, one may not automatically think of artist Wendy Red Star’s style. Her lighthearted, playful approach to depictions of her ancestry is what sets her apart and creates an appeal for outsiders. Her use of color, setting, and traditional Native American culture creates a sense of juxtaposition between ancient heritage and modern media. As a woman of Apsáalooke descent, Red Star uses her familiarity with Native American life and culture to create vivid imagery of her experience between two worlds, in turn using her talent in photography to generate a new narrative in the shaping of perception of Indigenous culture. Alongside her masterful work, the audience is able to enjoy essays, stories, and poems by award-winning authors and historians that complement the artist’s message and account of her personal experience.
Untitled (Rez Pop A, B, L, D), 2017 © Wendy Red Star, Courtesy Sargent’s Daughters Gallery
Untitled (Rez Pop D), 2017 © Wendy Red Star, Courtesy Sargent’s Daughters Gallery
Indian Woman Sitting (2005), shows the audience a mundane scene of a woman sitting in solitude, thinking. It seems as though she is waiting for something or someone. Her presentation is spectacular; she looks beautiful in her traditional Native American clothing and earns the title of the main emphasis of the image. Behind her, a silky, patterned ochre curtain overlaps a blank wall, simple use of decor that does take attention away from the leading woman while beautifully complementing her red and blue garments. The scene is reminiscent of iconic ’80s teen movie scenes where the young girl desperately waits for her gentleman caller, all dolled up but with nowhere to go. The contrast between this familiar popular culture trope and a traditionally dressed young Native American woman creates for the viewer a humanizing, humbling experience. In a world where popular culture revolves around the social constructs of beauty based around the qualities of white people, a scene such as this one reminds us of the beauty standards in different cultures and sheds light on the inclusion of diversity into our media-dominated society.
Amnía (Echo), 2021, © Wendy Red Star, Courtesy Sargent’s Daughters Gallery
Amnía (Echo), 2021, © Wendy Red Star, Courtesy Sargent’s Daughters Gallery
Two images stand out in the show for their out-of-focus, movement-filled qualities, To Have Good Vision (2022) and Ammuúo (Our Ancestors) (2022). The polyptych depictions of four different photography session of young girls’ portraits are woven in commotion by an anonymous pair of hands. Ammuúo shows a singular young lady layered with ghostly portraits of herself or of another person in different positions, giving the image a sense of movement. The perception of motion in these pictures elicits in the viewer a feeling of uneasiness, focusing the eye to attempt to view each image clearly. Many interpretations for the technique could be made, but to me it comes across clearly that the young children in each picture are meant to hold a universal identity. Like Red Star herself, each young girl struggles with the ambivalence of living between two worlds, constantly rummaging for a stable identity.
To Have Good Vision, 2022, © Wendy Red Star, Courtesy Sargent’s Daughters Gallery
Red Star’s use of visual effects lets her audience enter a world of authenticity and ambiguous identity. Through her blurry images, to the series’ abundant colors in the cars and homes atop vivid monotone backgrounds, and striking, hypnotic installations of Native American women, Wendy Red Star shares her mission of normalizing cultural differences as a united society.
Wendy Red Star’s Delegation exhibit will be on display at the Sargent’s Daughters Gallery, 179 E Broadway, New York City, from May 26 to June 25, 2022.
