The exhibition “Wendy Red Star: A Scratch on the Earth” opens Friday at the San Antonio Museum of Art, offering a mid-career survey of the significant Native American visual artist.
The show, on view through May 8, features more than 40 works produced from 2006 to 2019 and encompasses photography, sculpture, textile arts and mixed-media installations.
An enrolled member of the Apsáalooke (Crow) tribe, Red Star uses her artistic practice to bring forth new perspectives on the Native American experience. The title of the exhibition refers to a period in the late 1800s when the U.S. government insisted on keeping the Crow people on a reservation. The “scratch” refers to the government’s arbitrary and invisible border.
Among the exhibition highlights is Let Them Have Their Voice, which features 15 hand-cut paper constructions and a 33-minute audio recording of Crow singers performing traditional songs. The series is a response to Edward S. Curtis’s 1908 multivolume book The North American Indian, which is often criticized for presenting a romanticized version of Native American life.
Another highlight is Isáahkawuatte (Old Man Coyote and Catholic Priest), a work featuring brilliantly painted coyote hunting decoys atop wooden palettes. It was created specifically for the SAMA exhibition.
On February 25 and 26, SAMA will host a symposium on the exhibition featuring Red Star along with other speakers.
$10-$20, 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday and Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday and Saturday-Sunday, Feb. 11-May 8, San Antonio Museum of Art, 200 W. Jones Ave., (210) 978-8100, samuseum.org.
Get our top picks for the best events in San Antonio every Thursday morning. Sign up for our Events Newsletter.
Related Stories
Roman bust found at Goodwill to be repatriated from San Antonio to Germany next month
This article appears in Feb 9-22, 2022.