The Atomic Indian Corporation: “We Love Selling Indian-ness!”
By Stephanie Danker and Zachary Presley
Zachary Presley is a young, emerging contemporary artist from Oklahoma examining his Native American identity from insider and outsider perspectives. The insider examination is relative to his mixed heritage (including Chickasaw) and outsider perceptions of Native people by mainstream culture. This paper will describe concepts of three bodies of work, describing how his work has shifted from investigation of stereotypical mass-produced objects to performance-based representations to illustrated parodies of Native people. Humor is used to facilitate the opportunity to recall possible preconceptions of Native American culture (Luna, Lowe, & Smith, 2005; Ryan, 1999). The viewer is challenged to connect understandings through how one views social processes, social identities, social change and conflict (Rose, 2006). Through images, meanings are created through a complex relationship between the producer, viewer, image, and social context (Sturken & Cartwright, 2009). The critical nature of the work elicits reconsideration of one’s assumptions of otherness.
Investigations of stereotypical mass-produced objects
My work highlights the stereotyping and commercialization of Native Americans and their cultural objects. I created The Atomic Indian Corporation to embody the concept of selling “Indian-ness.” I collect so called “cultural relics” that are so far removed from their original purpose that they no longer represent any true relevancy. In doing this I illustrate how stereotyping and consumption dilutes both appropriated culture and the consumer. ~ Zachary Presley, 2011
Implications for PK-12 art education
These issues need to be explored in PK-12 classrooms in order to rid students of unjust stereotypes they most likely do not realize they are proliferating.
These issues need to be explored in PK-12 classrooms in order to rid students of unjust stereotypes they most likely do not realize they are proliferating.
- Don’t shy away from complicated conversation. Assist students in finding strategies for associating meaning.
- Art should make you think! Sometimes good art makes people uncomfortable and challenges one’s values.
- Humor in art (in this case, puns, stereotypical dialect, and sarcasm) provides an accessible entry point for dialogue.
- Engage students in decoding embedded messages in mainstream popular visual culture.
- Assist students with becoming socially and emotionally aware. Recognizing cultural context is a part of this. Cultural credibility of the artist also makes a difference when representing issues having to do with the culture. A student artist that is not of Native culture will not be able to produce an artwork using Native representations that conveys meaning authentic to their own experiences. Students should not be encouraged to mimic Native cultural images as a way to appreciate the culture. Instead, assist students in deciphering themes or meaning intended in the cultural imagery. Then, assist students in making connections to their own life or culture, in order to create a representation significant to their own life experiences, inspired by the culture being studied.
- Assist students in empathizing with people who may have different cultural backgrounds.
- Contemporary Native Americans embrace their heritage, but customs and traditions should not be assumed or stereotyped.