Abstract
Native American art changed in the face of technological colonization, both in style and subject matter. Material changes and the introduction of new technologies opened up new techniques and mediums to Native artists. Indigenous responses to new technology created completely new and ethnically unique forms of expression. Through changes forced on tribal communities as a result of imperial policy an physical invasion, many traditional formats died out, and some forms of art were repressed. Simultaneously, new subjects were interpreted as Native creators coped with the changes of industrial life. Living in the margins of colonial society, but experiencing the industrial world, placed Natives on the “borderlands of experience.” My case study particularly examines trains and motorcycles in native art. One represents the invading Empire, the other represents freedom. Particularly, modern ledger art depicts motorcycles as a technological re-invention of the horse- empowering and freeing Native artists and their subjects. ‘Experiential borderlands,’ were syncretic, dialectic negotiations over the routine functions that made Native communities in the industrial world distinct from the imperial mainstream. Interactions and symbols in these borderlands created cultural symbols and techniques unique to them. The particular experiences of local technologies created local adaptations, giving certain processes and knowledges special meaning. My study examines the Native-Industrial art revolving around biker culture, with an emphasis on ledger art. The art around motorcycles was inspired by that technology’s freeing individualism - in contrast to the colonization brought by trains.
Presenters
James BlandDoctoral Candidate (ABD), Graduate Assistant, Department of History, University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Native America, Colonization, Artistry in Technology, Railways, Transportation and Sovereignty
