Wendy Red Star

Past Exhibition

Wendy Red Star: A Scratch on the Earth

February 11, 2022–May 08, 2022

Cowden Gallery

Wendy Red Star, Indian Summer - Four Seasons, 2006, Archival pigment print on sunset fiber rag, 23 x 26 in. (58.4 x 66 cm), Gift of Loren G. Lipson, M.D., 2016  2016.46.1.1, Collection of The Newark Museum of Art 


Wendy Red Star: A Scratch on the Earth is a mid-career survey of the work of Portland artist Wendy Red Star (born 1981, Billings, Montana). An enrolled member of the Apsáalooke (Crow) Tribe, Red Star works across disciplines to explore the intersections of Native American ideologies and colonialist structures, both historically and in contemporary society. Drawing on pop culture, conceptual art strategies, and the Crow traditions within which she was raised, Red Star pushes photography in new directions—from self-portraiture to photo-collage and mixed media—to bring to life her unique perspective on American history.  

The title A Scratch on the Earth is a translation of the Apsáalooke word Annúkaxua and refers to the period after 1880 when U.S. government policy prioritized keeping Crow people on the reservation. The importance of family, the Indigenous roots of feminism, Crow mythology, the history of the Montana landscape, and the pageantry of Crow Fest are among the subjects that Red Star brings to life in this exhibition. A Scratch on the Earth also explores how boundaries between cultural, racial, social, and gender lines are reinforced in America, and how these lines blur across time and place.  

Wendy Red Star: A Scratch on the Earth features forty works drawn from the collection of the Newark Museum of Art and museums across the country and includes photography, textiles, and film and sound installations, produced over a period of twelve years. At the heart of the exhibition, a new immersive video will be screened inside a sweat lodge constructed by the artist. 

The exhibition was originally organized by the Newark Museum of Art, and curated by Nadiah Rivera Fellah, guest curator, and Tricia Laughlin Bloom, Newark’s Curator of American Art. 

The exhibition is accompanied by a richly illustrated catalogue published by the Newark Museum of Art.  


 

This exhibition was organized by The Newark Museum of Art and generously funded by The Ford Foundation, The Brown Foundation, Inc., and The Betty Stieren Kelso Foundation.

Exhibition Gallery

Wendy Red Star, Spring - Four Seasons, 2006, Archival pigment print on sunset fiber rag, 23 x 26 in. (58.4 x 66 cm), Gift of Loren G. Lipson, M.D., 2016  2016.46.1.1, Collection of The Newark Museum of Art 

Wendy Red Star, Alaxchiiaahush/ Many War Achievements/ Plenty Coups from the Series: 1880 Crow Peace Delegation, 2014, Pigment print on archival photo-paper, 17 x 25 in. (43.2 x 63.5 cm) (each), Gift of Wendy Red Star in memory of  Loren G. Lipson, M.D., and Purchase 2018 Sophronia Anderson Bequest Fund and John J. O’Neill Bequest Fund  2018.26.1.4A,B, Collection of The Newark Museum of Art 

Wendy Red Star, Family Portrait Series - Walla, Marlon, Doonie, 2011, Cotton broad cloth with archival ink, 44 x 44 in. (111.8 x 111.8 cm), Autry Museum of The American West, Los Angeles, CA

Wendy Red Star, My Home is Where My Tipi Sits (Sweat Lodges), 2011. Archival pigment print on sunset fiber rag, 57 x 72 in. (144.8 x 182.9 cm). Collection of the artist © Wendy Red Star

Wendy Red Star and Amelia Winger-Bearskin, Still from Monsters, 2018. VR film, 14 mins. Collection of the artists © Wendy Red Star and Amelia Winger-Bearskin

Wendy Red Star, Apsáalooke Feminist #4, 2016. Edition of 4, 2APs, Archival pigment print,Image:34 1/8 x 41 1/8in. (86.7x 104.5 cm). Figge Art Museum, Friends of Art Acquisition Fund, 2019.7 © Wendy Red Star

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