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REAL FACES: deCoy Gallerina, Transparent Passion Interactive Installation & Performance
deCoy Gallerina759 subscribers2ShareSave539 views May 15, 2011@ BLOOD OF THE SUN EXHIBIT HONORING SUZAN SHOWN HARJO @ AHALENIA STUDIO/GALLERY in Santa Fe "I am representation of how difficult it is to communicate/convey/speak/have heard/have known our experience as Indigenous people in/through/beyond main stream american culture & media's PROJECTIONS, negative IMAGING & obliteration of who we actually are... clichés, including association with certain types of bead works... my beadwork is anything but what you would call 'typical'... fetishized, romanticized, criticized, DE-humanized denigrated, ostricised, eliminated; INVISIBALIZED for being who we are, for having voices and daring to use them... for having perspectives, truths daring to express & continuing to BE them Punished, marginalized For not pretending to be what we are not I STAND HEREi***all of this***it is beautiful, gorgeous & horrifying the glorifications & misconceptions mystifications & negative connotations distortions MASCOTS & INDIAN PRINCESSES GENERALIZED... there is not just one generic Native culture COMMODIFIED not just as something to sell But, by commodities endoctrinated to consume...poisons doomed to ill health..., psychologically, physically, spiritually exterminated through the future in this & the images you tell us matters what you tell us are real through this you steal our identities our faces with no places in YOUR media the only media allowed light while you have the pleasure of your fantasies to relieve you & the leisure of your inability to make amends Scapegoated We have struggled to exist, to be present to be heard & seen Exactly as we are NOW, in the PRESENT In this moment: REAL human like everyone else... we have struggled to be ACCEPTED If we are not seen, how can others accept us How can we accept ourselves? Gagged, shackled, cuffed, restrained with a mouth full of bead clichés From my ancestors past I struggle, NOW to be heard clearly, seen clearly as I am, to be valued for who I am to be given the space to BE the dignity my culture, our cultures honored ALLOWED reflection in this world, in the media To be ALLOWED see ourselves reflected potently, clearly, honestly To see ourselves is to know ourselves This is sanity! INVISIBALIZED NO LONGER! aho" I am from the tribe Geromino was from, he was an honorable man who struggled to protect his people from foreign invaders. He only surrendered because our whole tribal group (over 3,000 people) were taken hostage, which meant they would all be murdered if he did not. If he had not fought as hard as he did, if he had not surrendered when he did, I would probably not be here to type this to you, or to do my works. Our tribal chairman wrote President Obama a letter asking for an apology for the connotations and negative associations with Bin Laden, it was not even acknowledged...how pathetic. Obama you are a half black man in America, you & your writers know exactly what effect your statements have in increasing racism, bigotry & hatred against people who are not white in America. I do not forgive you! You & your writers owe us a formal & public apology! How dare YOU! @ AHALENIA STUDIO/GALLERY in Santa Fe...thank you AMERICA MERIDETH, Suzan and all the artists: Marcus Amerman, Kelly Church, Anita Fields, John Hagen, Edgar Heap of Birds, Bob Haozous, April Holder, Kenneth Johnson, Marlon Melero, Melissa Melero, Mateo Romero, Hoka Skenadore, John Torres-Nez, Brandon Williams...thank you AMERICA MERIDETH, Suzan and all the artists: Marcus Amerman, Kelly Church, Anita Fields, John Hagen, Edgar Heap of Birds, Bob Haozous, April Holder, Kenneth Johnson, Marlon Melero, Melissa Melero, Mateo Romero, Hoka Skenadore, John Torres-Nez, Brandon Williams
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