Artwork Details
- Title
- When will the Red Leader Overshadow Images of the 19th Century Noble Savage in Hollywood Films that Some Think are Sympathetic to American Indians
- Artist
- Date
- 2018
- Location
- Not on view
- Dimensions
- 15 1⁄2 in. × 14 in. × 14 in. (39.4 × 35.6 × 35.6 cm)
- Copyright
- © 2018, Gail E. Tremblay
- Credit Line
- Museum purchase made possible by Ms. Brenda Erickson in honor of the James Renwick Alliance
- Mediums Description
- 35mm film from "Windwalker" (1981), red and white film leader, silver braid
- Classifications
- Subjects
- Abstract
- Indian
- Object Number
- 2021.11
Artwork Description
This basket is filled with meaning, from the title to the color choice and type of stitch. It incorporates 35mm film from the 1981 western Windwalker, in which one Native American tribe is portrayed as noble and the other as villainous. The red film leader and the reference to “Red Leader” in the basket’s title symbolize the derogatory term used to describe Native Americans. Gail Tremblay twists the film into a prickly porcupine stitch. Often using movies and documentaries with Native characters and storylines, the artist notes, “I enjoyed the notion of recycling film and gaining control over a medium that had historically been used by Hollywood and documentary filmmakers to stereotype American Indians.”
This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World, 2022