Our Side

 
 

Our Side, 2023

A series of archival pigment prints on Satin Photo Rag

Edition of 3

Our Side builds upon Red Star's research into historical photographs of Apsáalooke individuals and objects, with the artist drawing on both her personal collection and works held in museums and archives across the country. Red Star notes, “Since the time I left the Crow reservation I have encountered my tribe’s material culture in every city I have exhibited or occupied. It is incredible that so much of my community’s history and material culture is kept in the vaults of these institutions hundreds of miles away from their source.” Red Star revives these objects, often rendered inert in institutional collections, by making them accessible to her audience and incorporating them into new narratives. Images of dresses, moccasins, fans and other items are contextualized with historic black and white images of Apsáalooke people putting similar objects into use. Surrounding them, Red Star’s annotations, and occasionally images of her hands or notes, interpret, contemporize, and comment on these archival traces.