-
Erica Lord - Inupiaq / Athabaskan
Interview by Dasha Shleyeva
March 2010
The idea of one’s identity is a very complex thing. It not only changes constantly throughout our lives, but we also want to understand it, to know it, to explain it. It is one of the things I have been exploring within my art, poetry, writing and music ever since I can remember. When I first heard of Erica Lord’s approach to exploring one’s history, environment, media, images and ethnic background to learn more about the idea of identity and roots, I was immediately drawn to her art. I was truly intrigued by the way she explored the idea of ‘self’ in a hastily shape-shifting modern world. Throughout the process of this interview, I was very much inspired to continue to learn all I can about my own Russian background and culture and the current American culture I live in, but also to not feel tied down to just one, for it is always changing. I’m excited to take in all the different environments, cultures and people that have accumulated within my own personal history and truly realize that those memories and people and experiences give me my identity as much as the ones that I was born historically tied to.
Dasha Shleyeva: In your biography on the Native American Indigenous Cinema and Arts website, you state that you have various qualities that define your identity which come out or emerge depending on the environment or the company you choose. I have had similar inner conflict and feelings of oscillating between cultures being raised half my life in Moscow, Russia and half my life on the West Coast of the United States. Was there anything in particular that helped you come to this point of understanding and acceptance? Perhaps it is a work in progress at all times that constantly ebbs and flows?
Erica Lord: I guess the sort of understanding that I speak to in that statement started very young, as I was born & raised the first six years of my life in my home Native village of Nenana, AK. It was here I was referred to (teasing, but in a loving way) gissik baby, little white baby. So here it was my blue eyes and lighter skin that set me apart. So I think just as you are being told what you are, you start to figure out what you aren’t. At six, my mother and I moved to upper Michigan, a predominantly Finnish-American area of the country. Small towns. There it was my high cheeks, relatively darker skin, & eye shape that set me apart. So, same blood, same person, but as the environment and community changed around me, I was defined differently, and then came to understand myself as someone that shifted between or within races, communities,etc. I think it started out simple- race is the most obvious thing to see— I always understood I was mixed race. My family always spoke about this freely: Athabascan Indian (central Alaska), Iñupiaq (Eskimo/Inuit, northern Alaska), Finnish, Swedish, Japanese, English. The other aspects of my identity evolved and developed over time. ie. I have an identity within the city but also within these Alaskan woods. And yet in another way, the ideas of two homes, or multiple homes helped me to get to this point. Where is home? Alaska and Michigan. Which one? Both, all the time. In between. I didn’t want to choose, between any of these things. I didn’t want to feel part this & part that, incomplete. So I decided, or realized at some point, I didn’t have to be. I could be all of these things simutaneously, I am these things simutaneously. And some people, places, or situations just bring aspects to the surface where in other situations they may just get overlooked.
DS: In regards to your photography project on Josephine Baker and relation to exoticism, do you see yourself ever as exoticised, and if you do (or ever did) how does it make you feel or make you see yourself? Has it taught you any memorable mottos or lessons ?
Danse Sauvage 2005 (Larger image currently not available)
Link to full size image on Erica’s Website
EL: Yes, it was a direct response to the feeling of being seen as exotic, and other. I was interested in this idea of attraction/repulsion and how that relates to fetishes or objectification. In a country that includes a colonialism, I wondered about this attraction to the taboo, to this relationship between what is feared or repulsed, and a simutaneous feeling of attraction. …Before I get too far into that, let me get back to being called “exotic.” Yes, people call me exotic, and sometimes I don’t mind, I understand it is intended to be a compliment. And other times, in particular, when it is said in a particular way to me by men, leaves this uneasy and uncomfortable feeling for me. When I was in grad school, my advisor once said (I’m paraphrasing here): ‘Erica, people are going to always see you as exotic. There’s nothing you can do to change that, there is nothing you can do to change how people see you. You’re just going to have to accept it. So rather than trying to change other’s perceptions of you, why don’t you accept it and maybe use that knowlege to your advantage.’ I tried looking back in history, at other mixed women, or other Native women who sort of owned that power. I was thinking of Josephine Baker a lot and was reading about her. She intrigued me. The photograph sort of grew from this desire to emulate or embody that sort of force or power that she had. “Danse Sauvage” was a name of one of her dance reviews.
Welcome to the Contemporary North American Indigenous Artist Blog.
I suggested to William LePore, the Chair of the Department of Art at Portland State University, that I would like to teach classes focusing on topics about Contemporary Native art. To my delight he took me seriously and gave me the amazing opportunity to teach a class called “Contemporary Native American Art” during the winter term of 2010.
I was very nervous about teaching the course. My nervousness came from wanting to give adequate represent to my fellow Contemporary Native Artists and their work, while also trying to convey some issues related to Indigenous struggles both in the past and currently. Even if the Native artists’ works that we examined had nothing to do specifically with indigenous subjects, it seemed like the course could not function without an overview of Native and First Nation’s history.
While preparing for the course I considered several approaches to take, none of which really satisfied my desire to learn about these artists in very direct ways. So, I decided to employ the Internet to allow me to build my course around student engagement with Native Artists in person.
The first day of class I presented my idea to my fourteen students. I asked them if they would be interested in helping me build a blog that would archive student conducted, e-mail based interviews with Contemporary Native Artists. The general response was excitement with a bit of nervousness. I compiled a list of over fifty Native Artists and gave short presentations on each artist showing a few of their major works. Each student than picked an artist from the list to contact for the project.
The students had over six weeks to research the artist’s work, formulate questions for the interview, respond with a second round of questions, select images, and upload the final interview to the blog. All interviews except for one were conducted through e-mail. At the end of the student’s interviews I requested that they each ask their artists two of my own questions:
• Do you think of yourself as a “Contemporary North American Indigenous Artists?” Do you think terms like that one are useful or not? Do you feel like there is a separation between contemporary indigenous artists and the rest of the art world as represented by mainstream art magazines, biennials, art fairs, etc.?
• Can you recommend another artist that we should interview for this blog in the future?
When making the blog I wanted to make sure not to exclude First Nations Artists. The course title was Contemporary Native American Art but many of the artists we researched are from Canada. So the blog title is an attempt to be as inclusive as possible: Contemporary North American Indigenous Artists, with the idea being to focus on contemporary art made by North American Indigenous artists regardless of subject matter.
It was an amazing ten-week process. The class met every Tuesday from 1-4:50pm. The students gave updates to the class about their interactions with their artists. Students would read their responses to the class and that would inspire conversations which might not ever have happened had the class been structured in a more traditional lecture format.
Throughout the process the students and I felt a range of emotions from excitement to suspense. One of the artists had a baby during the course of the interview and another artist was traveling throughout Asia. Knowing about these life events made the students feel more connected to their artists. On the final day each student gave an in depth presentation on each of their artist’s work and talked about some of the highlights during the interview process. I think the students were surprised to find that they can gain access to people they are interested in researching more easily than they thought. For the most part the experience was very positive and the students are proud to be providing the public with more information on contemporary Native Art.
I have gained great inspiration from this process and a feeling of community with the artists included in the project. I would like to thank all of my students for making this blog possible and all of the amazing, talented, and generous artists who participated with my students.
Wendy Red Star
Adjunct Professor
Department of Art
Portland State University
Field Notes Theme. Designed by Manasto Jones. Powered by Tumblr.
