The Force is With Our People
October 2019 - October 2020
The Force Is With Our People opened in October 2019 to great excitement and acclaim. The exhibition won the 2020 Viola Award for Excellence in Visual Arts and was extended several times.
Through this exhibit curator and ethnologist Tony Thibodeau explored the influence Star Wars has had on contemporary Native artists and the question of why this enduring piece of popular culture resonates so strongly with Native communities, specifically those in the American Southwest. Work in the show consisted of artistic mediums ranging from painting, drawing, ceramics, beadwork, graphic art, cosplay outfits, and a full-scale, functioning R2-D2 droid painted in Hopi pottery designs. Over 20 contemporary Native artists were represented by more than 75 works in the exhibit.
Artists in the exhibit included: Jason Garcia (Santa Clara Pueblo Tewa), Dale Deforest (Diné), Ryan Singer (Diné), Susan Folwell (Santa Clara Pueblo Tewa), Mavasta Honyouti (Hopi), Enoch Endwarrior (Diné /Oneida), Rod Velarde (Jicarilla Apache), Mike Toya (Jemez Pueblo), Duane Koyawena (Hopi), Farlan and Alesia Quetawki (Zuni), Cynthia Begay (Diné/Hopi/Chicana), Randall J. Wilson (Diné), Jonathan Nelson (Diné), Dezbah Rose (Yuchi/Chippewa/Diné), Darby Raymond-Overstreet (Diné), Raymond Trujillo (Laguna Pueblo), Randy Kemp (Choctaw/Muscogee-Creek/Euchee), Shandiin Yessilth (Diné), Shaun Beyale (Diné), Jared Tso (Diné ), Kim Lohnes (Diné ), Landis Bahe (Diné); Virgil Wood (Diné ); Geri Hongeva (Diné); and Baje Whitethorne Sr. (Diné).
HOPI 8, by Duane Koyawena, watercolor on paper, 2018
Read about this exhibition:
Plateau: The Force Is With Our People
FlagLive, Oct. 3, 2019
Arizona Daily Sun, Nov. 16, 2019
Morning Edition, National Public Radio, Dec. 18, 2019
Forbes, Jan. 12, 2020
Unreserved, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Jan. 12, 2020
