GRÁFICA AMÉRICA
Mar. 3 — Sept. 1, 2019
Warbird Press, Phoenix, Arizona, US
And It’s Built on the Sacred, 2019, Serigraph, 30 x 22 inches, Courtesy of the artist
JACOB MEDERS
(Mechoopda Land)
Jacob Meders is a member of the Mechoopda Indian Tribe (Chico Rancheria, California), and is Assistant Professor in Interdisciplinary Arts and Performance at Arizona State University, as well as founder and Master Printer at Warbird Press (est. 2011). His work addresses the way places and identities are perceived in relation to the assimilation of indigenous populations. Drawing on his own experiences as well as the legislation that has impacted indigenous communities in the United States during his lifetime, he challenges stereotypes related to Native American identity. In this serigraph, Meders takes the discarded commercial bust of the Virgin Mary, icon of European Catholicism, and adds indigenous facial markings. He turns the tables on colonization by appropriating as well as tarnishing imposed religious symbolism in the way that the invaders vandalized sacred indigenous sites. His works has been exhibited throughout the United States, as well as in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Argentina and Estonia.