Contemporary Connections: "Trickster" and Native American Artists

Native American Artists Struggle to Find a Niche

The article above gives us an inside look of how Native American artists struggle within their own profession. The article shows us how Native American artists have to fight stereotypes and prove their authenticity, which appears to be a theme in Native American culture. The article also shows us how Natuve American artists face difficulty in regards to being accepted as "real" artists. As you read the article you learn about how the artists also have trouble being taken seriously. As shown in the article, Native American art is always being put in the simple category of arts and crafts, which isn't considered "real art." Another problem Native American artists have to face is the struggle of having tribes that continue to grow smaller; meaning fewer Indians, which ultimately leads to less Native American artists. In efforts to preserve and promote Native American artists and art, the article explores the possibilities of creating
 Native American art museums. However, inevitably there are also a list of struggles that go along with this possible solution.

While reading Trickster in class, it was common knowledge that the illustrators of the book are not Native American. The question was then raised, does this take away from the book being a true piece of Native American literature? Personally, I do not think it does. However, I believe there should have been a greater effort to find Native American artists to illustrate the book. I think that if Native American artists illustrated the book, so many controversial questions would not be raised about the book. It would have added to the whole "authenticity" of the book to the readers. There is this constant struggle of auhenticity in Native American culture (Native American literature Native American art, Native American people, etc...) So why not have the entire book be created by real Indian people that understand their own culture and can give first hand experiences? But even then, would the question of authenticity disappear? I'm not sure it would. I also think that if Indian artists were the illistrators, then there would have been no question of if the characters of each comic were depicted correctly (what clothes they were wearing, what their surroundings were...) In the article, it explains how Native American artists struggle to "find their niche." In my opinion, this book was a perfect opportunity to supply Native American artists with jobs that they would feel comfortable and confident in doing. Illistaring a book like Trickster could have boosted their esteem as artists and it truly could have given them a chance to feel like they truly belong as an artist.