Description

The Visual Voices: Contemporary Chickasaw Art exhibition catalog highlights the diversity of expression in contemporary Chickasaw art across different media and multiple perspectives. The essays analyze the complex relationship between contemporary Chickasaw life and rich tribal history and culture. Many of the artists are inspired by traditional Chickasaw elements of design and render them using contemporary materials and aesthetics to create an innovative visual language. Others investigate personal and collective identities, the artists’ relationship to their homelands, tribal and family histories, traditions and stories, and how these relate to present-day Chickasaw life. The catalog features more than 45 artworks in full-color reproduction. The works reflect a wide variety of themes, techniques and art processes, balancing the artists’ strong connection to tribal identity, as well as their distinctly individual and cultural roots. The publication also includes poems by Chickasaw authors Linda Hogan, Rebecca Hatcher Travis, Amanda Cobb-Greetham, Daniel Worcester, and Jeannie Barbour. Among the essay authors are Heather Ahtone (Chickasaw/Choctaw), Manuela Well-Off-Man, and Karen Whitecotton (Citizen Potawatomi Nation).

The publication was supported by a grant provided by the Chickasaw Nation.