Description
Book SynopsisIn this first book-length study of contemporary Native American artist Edgar Heap of Birds, Bill Anthes analyzes Heap of Bird's art and politics in relation to Native American history, spirituality, and culture, the international art scene, and how his art critiques the subjugation of Native Americans.
Trade Review"
Edgar Heap of Birds is a productive step toward disavowing the distinction between 'native' and 'contemporary' experiences." -- Maggie Wander * AlterNative *
"Anthes organizes Heap of Birds’s public art and gallery work into four thematic chapters—'Land,' 'Words,' 'Histories,' and 'Generations'—building an argument that each series contributes to a broad project of asserting indigenous sovereignty and renewing indigenous community. In so doing, Anthes shows the inherently Native world view that motivates the artist’s work without compromising its contemporaneity. Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers." -- E. Hutchinson * Choice *
"Anthes is painstaking . . . in his grounding of Heap of Birds's art in Indigenous perspectives on colonial and post-colonial North America and in his documentation of the complex historical intersections marked by his many site-specific works. . . . Heap of Birds's work remains intensely relevant as elucidations of Native American history written as Native Americans know it." -- Emily E. Auger * Canadian Journal of Native Studies *
"Generously illustrated with around a hundred images, most in color, Anthes’s study is a must for anyone interested in political art, contemporary art, and Indigenous studies. In fact, it is the best single study of Heap of Birds to date." -- Dean Rader * Journal of American Studies *
"Anthes’s richly illustrated text begins to take to heart Heap of Birds’s challenge to the writing of history, illuminating the moments in which the artworks themselves write their own histories. . . . The book models itself after Heap of Birds’s own practice, using meticulous research and wit to gesture to the power of the symbolic and unearth the voices that history has attempted to suppress." -- Jessica Landau * Native American and Indigenous Studies *
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations ix
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction 1
1. Land 29
2. Words 67
3. Histories 117
4. Generations 163
Notes 181
Bibliography 195
Index 201
