My Spirit Animal is White Guilt
May 30, 2024 10:47 AM Subscribe
(2014) WaPo (archive) article about Gregg Deal's performance art piece in which he dresses up in stereotypical costume in public. Last spring, Deal came up with his own performance concept in which he’d dress up in a brash getup to physically embody what he believes many non-indigenous people envision when they think of a Native American. The mostly prefabricated outfit is a costume, not authentic regalia; is intentionally over-the-top; and holds no personal significance for Deal. (...) Suspicion is (...) displayed by a security officer at Potomac Mills mall who demands to know what Deal is doing (Deal’s response of “Shopping” irking the officer all the more).
2020: Colorado Spring mural honoring missing Indigenous
2021 Exhibit: Gregg Deal’s Paintings Challenge Stereotypes And Champion Visibility Of Indigenous People
2022: Biking the Tahoe-Pyramid Trail in Bicycling Magazine.
2023: Exhibit guest curated by Deal at Longmont Museum.
"I accidentally started a band": Dead Pioneers.
2020: Colorado Spring mural honoring missing Indigenous
2021 Exhibit: Gregg Deal’s Paintings Challenge Stereotypes And Champion Visibility Of Indigenous People
2022: Biking the Tahoe-Pyramid Trail in Bicycling Magazine.
2023: Exhibit guest curated by Deal at Longmont Museum.
"I accidentally started a band": Dead Pioneers.
Okay, starting with their cover of the Minutemen’s The Punch Line, I want to hear some Dead Pioneers songs.
However, the opinion in the “accidentally started a band” article that RATM was “arguably the most political punk band” does not sit well with the DOA shirt I am wearing.
posted by house-goblin at 11:18 AM on May 30 [4 favorites]
However, the opinion in the “accidentally started a band” article that RATM was “arguably the most political punk band” does not sit well with the DOA shirt I am wearing.
posted by house-goblin at 11:18 AM on May 30 [4 favorites]
"Bad Indian" is getting good airtime on the indie station in Denver, and it's hilarious. Thanks for posting this so I can learn more about Gregg.
posted by paradeofblimps at 12:04 PM on May 30 [2 favorites]
posted by paradeofblimps at 12:04 PM on May 30 [2 favorites]
Thanks for posting this so I can learn more about Gregg.
Same. I only knew about Dead Pioneers so this is a fun post to learn more about him.
posted by jessamyn at 12:22 PM on May 30 [1 favorite]
Same. I only knew about Dead Pioneers so this is a fun post to learn more about him.
posted by jessamyn at 12:22 PM on May 30 [1 favorite]
Thank you for the alternative link, Lanark.
posted by doctornemo at 12:48 PM on May 30 [1 favorite]
posted by doctornemo at 12:48 PM on May 30 [1 favorite]
Humans! We are banal:
A silver-haired man enters the scene. Standing behind Deal, who doesn’t see him, the man raises his right palm with a playful smile, making sure the woman taking the photo gets him in the shot.
Moments later, when a reporter asks him why he posed that way, the man answers: “I thought that was the Indian greeting of ‘How.’ ” He gives his name and e-mail address but quickly ends his conversation when the reporter asks him what he does at the International Monetary Fund.
and also sublime:
Consider when the Last American Indian on Earth met Santa Claus at Potomac Mills on a December afternoon.
“He shakes my hand,” says Deal, “and he says, ‘Where are you from?’ I said, ‘Pyramid Lake Paiute; I’m from out West.’ ”
Santa’s response took Deal by surprise.
“He goes, ‘I’m Cheyenne River,’ and he starts speaking to me in his language,” Deal says. “This guy looks like Santa Claus.
“My mind was blown a little bit.”
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 2:33 PM on May 30 [4 favorites]
A silver-haired man enters the scene. Standing behind Deal, who doesn’t see him, the man raises his right palm with a playful smile, making sure the woman taking the photo gets him in the shot.
Moments later, when a reporter asks him why he posed that way, the man answers: “I thought that was the Indian greeting of ‘How.’ ” He gives his name and e-mail address but quickly ends his conversation when the reporter asks him what he does at the International Monetary Fund.
and also sublime:
Consider when the Last American Indian on Earth met Santa Claus at Potomac Mills on a December afternoon.
“He shakes my hand,” says Deal, “and he says, ‘Where are you from?’ I said, ‘Pyramid Lake Paiute; I’m from out West.’ ”
Santa’s response took Deal by surprise.
“He goes, ‘I’m Cheyenne River,’ and he starts speaking to me in his language,” Deal says. “This guy looks like Santa Claus.
“My mind was blown a little bit.”
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 2:33 PM on May 30 [4 favorites]
Reminiscent of James Luna, which is one of the most uhhh uncomfortable works of art I've ever seen. And which I also now note is mentioned in the article.
Unrelated, the wayback machine blocked me for using an adblocker, so do we need an archive for our archive (yo dawg!)?
posted by Literaryhero at 4:18 PM on May 30
Unrelated, the wayback machine blocked me for using an adblocker, so do we need an archive for our archive (yo dawg!)?
posted by Literaryhero at 4:18 PM on May 30
Or wait, is WaPo somehow adblocking the archive link?
posted by Literaryhero at 4:24 PM on May 30
posted by Literaryhero at 4:24 PM on May 30
Reminds me of a tshirt that Anishinaabeg artist Chippewar used to sell, that said, "Your Spirit Animal Is A Parasite" (hahaHAhaha)...but it looks like it's no longer being offered. However, his site has a ton of tshirts, prints, hats, and stickers that reference pop culture, graphic novels, and sci fi that would probably hit the mark for a lot of Mefites. I have two tshirts (Attack of the Colonial Kind, and Oh Canada Your Home On Native Land) and two hats (Honour The Treaties, and Decolonize).
Haven't heard of Gregg Deal or Dead Pioneers before. Listening to No One Owns Anything and Death Is Real now. Wowza, love them, thank you!
posted by cybercoitus interruptus at 5:07 PM on May 30 [3 favorites]
Haven't heard of Gregg Deal or Dead Pioneers before. Listening to No One Owns Anything and Death Is Real now. Wowza, love them, thank you!
posted by cybercoitus interruptus at 5:07 PM on May 30 [3 favorites]
Or wait, is WaPo somehow adblocking the archive link?I got that, too, and I'm not even using an ad blocker.
posted by Miss Cellania at 2:19 AM on May 31
I've found that turning off javascript in uBlock and reloading will stop WaPo from being WaPo.
posted by mikelieman at 5:57 AM on May 31
posted by mikelieman at 5:57 AM on May 31
The actual Last American Indian [sic] was Ishi. The story is one of my favorite books: Ishi in Two Worlds: A Biography of the Last Wild Indian in North America.
Bonus: Ishi's [caretakers?] after he joined the white world were a married couple who were anthropologists at U. California. They also would become Ursula LeGuin's parents after Ishi had died.
posted by neuron at 8:42 PM on June 1 [1 favorite]
Bonus: Ishi's [caretakers?] after he joined the white world were a married couple who were anthropologists at U. California. They also would become Ursula LeGuin's parents after Ishi had died.
posted by neuron at 8:42 PM on June 1 [1 favorite]
The actual Last American Indian [sic] was Ishi.
What? He was the last of his people. There were, and are, plenty of others.
Also, here’s hoping Dead Pioneers do a song about what happened to Ishi’s head and brain. I’ve read claims that Ishi begged Kroeber not to let happen what happened.
posted by house-goblin at 9:52 PM on June 6 [1 favorite]
What? He was the last of his people. There were, and are, plenty of others.
Also, here’s hoping Dead Pioneers do a song about what happened to Ishi’s head and brain. I’ve read claims that Ishi begged Kroeber not to let happen what happened.
posted by house-goblin at 9:52 PM on June 6 [1 favorite]
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posted by GoblinHoney at 10:52 AM on May 30 [8 favorites]