artedited v2.qxp_Layout 1 27/08/2021 15:43 Page 1
ARTS
Caring for country
A new show at Europe’s only Native American art gallery – which needs our help now it’s future is under threat – is exploring how art can help heal historical trauma and aid reconnection with heritage
W
est Country-based artists Melinda Schwakhofer (Muscogee and Austrian-American) and Jasmine Coe (Wiradjuri-British) are on a journey to reconnection with their Indigenous heritage through their work, with hopes that their experiences will resonate with people of mixed race who have grown up with a disconnect to one side of their heritage, as well as myriad other art lovers, regardless of ethnicity. Ahead of their show at Rainmaker – currently crowdfunding for a new home due to the gallery space being under new ownership – they give us a deeper insight into their process and how it is informed by family history.
The paradox of being human, says Melinda, is the uniqueness of each one of us in a world where we cannot exist without cooperating with each other
TBM: What sort of projects are you working on at the moment? Jasmine: This year I decided to develop my art by exploring how my work can evolve into fashion and design. Having explored the idea of wearable art by designing silk scarves, I am now creating slip dresses using my designs. It has been important to find a fabric that aligns with the values of my art in being as sustainable and eco-friendly as possible while being as flattering and beautiful as silk. Melinda: A large art quilt and a smaller hand-stitched piece – both called Pelofv (the Mvskoke word for ‘wooded area with a creek running through it’). The inspiration is a synthesis of two landscapes: Ocmulgee (now Georgia, USA), the homelands of the Mvskoke, and Dartmoor where I now live. I’m also making jewellery from buckskin which I tanned from scratch using English red deer hide, and I’ve started a hand-stitching project which involves eco-dyeing natural fibre thread and fabric using Yaupon holly. Tea brewed from this plant has been drunk for thousands of years by Southeastern Woodlands Nations, including the Mvskoke. I’ll be using the resulting materials in art that depicts Southeastern iconography and explores what it means to be a Mvskoke person living in the UK. Tell us more about how your heritage informs your art Jasmine: My heritage is Wiradjuri (Aboriginal) on my father’s side and British on my mother’s side. I grew up in the UK and only went to Australia in 2016 to meet my father and connect to my Wiradjuri heritage. I studied fine art at Bath Spa University where I painted portraits. Coming back from Australia, painting was a familiar place where I could safely process and continue my connection to my heritage. My art now celebrates and reinstates the values I have learnt from my Wiradjuri heritage by painting experiences or personal themes. One lesson that has stuck with me is the act of ‘caring for country’. I try to uphold this through symbolism. Honeybees feature a lot within my work as they act as a personal reminder of the importance of balance. They are an example of collective energy, community and the strength of working together with nature. Melinda: I use cultural iconography relevant to the Mvskoke in much of my work. Since 2008 I have been creating a body of work called Mvskoke Journey which has helped me come to terms with the devastating effects of the historical trauma handed down through my Native American family line. I also have a profound connection to the natural world, especially when viewed through a Mvskoke lens. When I learned to tan buckskin I felt deeply connected to my Mvskoke foremothers who, traditionally, would have made buckskin. Much of my art is informed by the Mvskoke way of looking at the world. In this view, each person exists in this place that sits between the Upper and Lower Worlds which are always in a contest with each other. As a Mvskoke artist I feel it’s very natural for me to synthesise and balance these different worlds – to bring harmony to chaos.
28 THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE
|
SEPTEMBER 2021
|
NO¯ 202
Which important questions has it helped you to get to grips with? Jasmine: Who I am, what identity means to me, what my values are. Melinda: Who am I as a Mvskoke person? How am I Mvskoke? I grew up knowing that I have Native American ancestry, but not much more than that. My father, Frank, had chosen to cut himself off from our Mvskoke culture and family as a young man. It was not until I became an adult that I began to explore my background and the culture which had such a deep but, until then, unacknowledged impact on my whole family. In 2008 I consciously began to use artmaking to help me navigate everything I was discovering, both the joyous and the painful sides of that. My artwork became a map to guide me on this journey, which continues. Tell us more about how issues of race, identity or conflict manifest Melinda: Identity – or the search for it – is at the core of much of what I do. I recognise that I am at the confluence of many different streams. My Mvskoke heritage mingles with my Austrian-AmericanEnglish ancestry. Add in lived experience and – just like everyone – my identity is unique yet shares many experiences with millions of other people. It is the paradox of being human – the uniqueness of each one of us in a world where we cannot exist without cooperating. My art reflects this never-ending journey of self-discovery. Also, I
