Rosario Ayala Olmos 11/1/17 English 12-O Essay Native American artists and writers have in many ways expressed their culture, art, and tradition. Throughout the years it has been hard for Native Americans to express their culture and art. This is because of our society and our different values, not just in California but in other states that have Native American tribes. Anthropologists have collected different “artifacts” belonging to these Native Americans and for some that has caused controversy. In Winona LaDuke’s, “Ethnic of Collecting.” we as readers see this controversy regarding Ishi and his belongings. Another example of belonging and expressionism is,”Frank Day and the uses of Anthropology.” In these texts we explore the differences …show more content…
LaDuke starts us off with how language helps us perceive our thoughts and reality. Language is something that not only expresses art, but enhances the culture that we come from. My language for example, would come from educating others that Native American body arts are not collectibles and are not to be used for scientific research. Those body parts belong to real people, with real feelings, and with families that can’t accept the fact that their ancestor is a collectible. Frank agrees, Native Americans are great at expressing their traditions and culture, wherever it is through art, like in my case, or though the way we do things. Not only have I expressed my culture through art but also through educating our younger generation to tribal traditions. Anthropologists use our form of art to get a sense of what our traditions are like, but they will never get the full experience or picture because they cannot fully understand the full image. I quote, “Once in awhile I take up color and paint a little because if I do not do this, all things will be forgotten.” In other words, Native Americans have the responsibility to express themselves to people of their culture and those suffering them to not only keep traditions alive in their culture, but to educate others that we are still people and we to have our rights as …show more content…
Day continues, Art has always been as escape from everything that we as a tribe have gone through it was a form of expression toward what was is happening and what has happened. Indian art should be interpreted the way the tribe or the individual wants it to be. LaDuke mentions, art is a way to give a slight picture of who we are. In this case they take individuals and place them as their own living “art.” When in reality they are still people, so tell me how is one way that your art helps express the truth for Native Americans? During the Gold Rush, the mass killing of Native Americans and the rape of Native women became and issue and most outsiders didn’t think much about it, and this is the truth behind many Native Americans living in reservations all around the United States. In what forms does your art express the situation of the Konkow Maidu tribe? Day answers that some ways he depicts his traditions in his art is by expressing different tales that have been passed down to generations and most importantly his tribe's traditional dance, the Toto. The Toto, is traditional dance by the Maidu tribe that is both physical and spiritual. In the painting, “Lone Arrow, or Wuk-Tem-Bo-So,” we also see the essential needed for his tribe to survive, which was hunting. Hunting is something that all Native Americans have in common with their ancestors because it is something that was