Claudia Pearson illustration

Brian Jungen

I've just returned from Washington DC where I spent a lovely 2 days
with my sister exploring the city. It was my first trip there and I feel
like I only just scraped the surface with it's wonderful museums and
historic monuments. The National Museum of the American Indian really
blew me away from the exterior to the amazing collection within.

The art of Brian Jungen is one of the most innovative and clever works
I have seen in a very long time. He is a Canadian artist from British Colombia
with Swiss and Dunne-za First Nations ancestry. He draws upon the traditions
of "found art" and incorporates familiar everyday items into traditional
First Nations artwork. Jungen writes:
"It was interesting to see how by simply manipulating the Air Jordan shoes
you could evoke specific cultural traditions whilst simultaneously amplifying
the process of cultural corruption and assimilation.
The Nike mask sculptures seemed to articulate a paradoxical relationship
between a consumerist artefact and an 'authentic' native artifact."