Resisting Oppression

Presenter: Garrett Crane

Presenter Status: Undergraduate student

Academic Year: 19-20

Semester: Spring

Department: Art

Funding Source/Sponsor: SYRCE Symposium

Screenshot URL: https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1ioMWP95eGewxi-zmJN2kSZdHLkf90EnX

Abstract:
Garrett Crane

Resisting Oppression, 2020

Acrylic paint on Canvas

Founded in July of 1968, the American Indian Movement is a grassroots political movement designed to tackle white oppression and the systematic erasure of native history and culture. Throughout the late 60's and early 70's AIM performed and executed a series of mass protests and armed standoffs with the United States government. In 1969, in conjunction with a group known as Indians of All Tribes, AIM occupied the former US Penitentiary at Alcatraz Island citing the Treaty of Fort Laramie as grounds that the land be returned to its rightful native ownership. In 1973 AIM members held the town of Wounded Knee, the site of the infamous Wounded Knee massacre, on the Pine Ridge reservation in a 71 day-long armed standoff with local law enforcement and the FBI. Though AIM was not afraid to take violent action if necessary, their protests did not always come to this sticky end. The Longest Walk took place in 1978 in which AIM members walked 3200 miles from the San Francisco Bay Area to Washington D.C.

The bright red of the American Indian Movement logo strikes the eye and brings attention to the center of the piece. The surrounding deep blue circle, representing unity, pulls the viewer around the exterior of the piece forcing the eye to embrace representations of four of AIM's most memorable and impactful protests. From the Wounded Knee Occupation represented by a memorial monument to protesting statues of Christopher Columbus the piece attempts to inspire the viewer to think introspectively about their nations history and implores the viewer to conduct further research into the power social justice work of AIM and many organizations like it.