Indigenous History is Poster History
12:30–2pm
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Poster House is pleased to welcome graphic designer and scholar Sadie Redwing for a wide-ranging conversation on Indigenous poster history and graphic communication. Describing the perspective of Indigenous ideology in visual communication is very challenging—especially to an audience who does not understand the harm of cultural appropriation. Indigenous sensitivity to appropriation is not taken into consideration when designing for representational material or identifying a traditional presence in the common world. Native Americans rely on stereotypes to distinguish themselves from other cultures. The struggle to display an accurate tribal identity derives from oppression and historical trauma through Western education. American Indian boarding schools erased the traditional image of a Native American that left tribal students uncertain of who they were as people.
As Indigenous peoples progress from the American Indian Boarding School era, the urge to distinct tribes from Pan-Indianism forces a greater responsibility from Indigenous designers to visually communicate sovereignty. The role of an Indigenous visual communicator requires the practice of visual sovereignty, or decolonizing the stereotypical representation into a traditional image for cultural education. Indigenous visual communicators have the power to give Native Americans a respected-face in the world by revealing tribal visual languages in visual communication. The rising movement of visual sovereignty in Indigenous visual communication has revolutionized a new fight against stereotypes and continues to revitalize an honorable image away from the subordinate portrayal of indigenous peoples.
Sadie Red Wing is a Lakota/Dakota graphic designer and advocate from the Spirit Lake Nation. Red Wing earned her BFA in New Media Arts and Interactive Design at the Institute of American Indian Arts. She received her Master of Graphic Design from North Carolina State University. Her research on cultural revitalization through design tools and strategies created a new demand for tribal competence in graphic design research. Red Wing urges Native American graphic designers to express visual sovereignty in their design work, as well as, encourages academia to include an indigenous perspective in design curriculum. Currently, Red Wing serves as an Assistant Professor at OCAD University (Toronto, ONT).