Wendy Red Star

Crow’s Shadow Institute of the Arts

Crow’s Shadow institute of the arts

Where Red Star Was Wounded, Where Bears Dance, Where The Cranes Sit, Where They Laid Down Yellow Blankets

These prints are part of an ongoing series exploring the social and material history of bishkisché. This Apsáalooke term is used to describe heirloom rawhide cases fabricated and decorated by the women of Indigenous tribes throughout North America, translating to “backpack for dogs to carry meat or grain.” Historically referred to as parfleche—a French phrase introduced during the colonial fur trade—in Western European scholarship, Red Star intends to use this series to restore the creative lineage and language of her Apsáalooke ancestry. A functional object used for transporting goods and possessions on horse across the Great Plains, each bishkisché features two painted panels with a mirrored pattern—a unique visual symbology invented by their maker. Growing up on the Crow Indian Reservation in Montana, Red Star recalls her grandmother with a creative project always in hand—perpetually sewing, beading, and drawing. While her matrilineal ancestors may not have described themselves as artists, they had robust artistic practices and established the aesthetic vocabulary of their tribal community—envisioning vibrant, geometric designs comprised of intersecting triangles, zig-zagging lines, and lean sequenced rectangles rendered in rich primary- toned pigments.

Dust, Her Dreams Are True (Julia Bad Boy), Four Generations

Part of a series of limited-edition prints handmade by Wendy Red Star over a period of five months during her third residency at Crow’s Shadow, these prints feature repeated photographic elements with portraits of Red Star’s family. Star Quilts were very precious items that were given away and shared at ceremonial rites: the quilt pattern, stars, and historical photos are all carriers of stories.

iilaalée = car (goes by itself) + ii = by means of which + dáanniili = we parade, Yakima or Yakama – Not For Me To Say, enit, Rez Car 1, Rez Car 2

Nearly 50,000 people attend the Crow Nation’s annual Crow Fair, including around 11,000 enrolled tribal members, almost 80 percent of the Crow tribe. Every family constructs a camp, and members of the Apsáalooke gather every morning during the weeklong celebration for a parade symbolizing the moving of camp, an action that expresses the deep-rooted cultural tradition of movement in Apsáalooke society. Families put on traditional dress and display their horses during rituals that recall the nineteenth-century migrations from summer to winter camps. These parades pass on traditions from horse culture to car culture, from buffalo days to reservation life—weaving each generation into the fabric of a living, resilient tribal Nation.