Fall 2006

Editor: Wendy Red Star’s photograph, "Fall," from the Harvard Art Museums, strikes me as both playful and deeply serious. What do you see in this piece? Curator: The inflatable elk, the painted backdrop, the artist herself in traditional dress… these are potent symbols. Red Star layers imagery to explore cultural identity and the commodification of Native American culture. Consider the elk—a majestic creature reduced to a child’s toy. Editor: So, the contrast between the real and artificial is intentional? Curator: Precisely. It speaks to the tension between authentic experience and constructed representation. How do we reconcile the romanticized image of the “Indian” with lived reality? The artist poses this question to the viewer and to herself. Editor: It definitely makes you think about how images shape our understanding of different cultures. Curator: Indeed! Red Star encourages us to critically examine the visual language surrounding Native American identity.