by donald dusinberre imartsyfartsy@gmail.com
Did you know that the fort in St. Augustine, now known as Castillo de San Marcos, was once named Fort Marion? Neither did I, and I learned a whole lot more on my recent trip to the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens.
First off, I’ve got to say that one of the greatest things about the Cummer is the huge bank of information that accompanies each exhibition. Although you’ve got to know (or learn) at least a little bit to understand the overall gist of some exhibits, you aren’t required to learn it all if you don’t prefer. The beautiful part is that, if you do prefer, you can really dig deep and explore many facets of each visiting exhibit.
On display until March 16, A Kiowa’s Odyssey: A Sketchbook from Fort Marion features the colorful pages of a sketchbook kept by Etahdleuh Doanmoe, a Kiowa warrior and one of 72 Native Americans to be relocated from their reservation in Oklahoma to Fort Marion in St. Augustine, Florida.
Captured in 1875 as part of a round up of the area’s biggest rabble-rousers, Doanmoe documented dozens of events from their serpentine journey across America and their imprisonment at Fort Marion under the command of Lieutenant Richard Henry Pratt. Though the Indians were prisoners, Pratt was not cruel and soon developed a degree of respect for them.
The Cummer exhibit displays each page of the sketchbook on individual pedestals, which are prominently numbered to indicate the chronology of the events depicted. Background information and comparison photos accompany each page. Visitors can meander around the gallery space, taking a roundabout journey that might make some visitors feel off balance and displaced, like Doanmoe himself may have felt. There are also a number of drawings created by other prisoners.
The context of the sketchbook drawings deals with the “conversion” of the Native American prisoners during their journey to and residence in Florida. Forced to become westernized in their appearance, behavior and beliefs, the sketchbook depicts some of that process with an eerie sense of history. Doanmoe’s drawings are detailed, colorful and seemingly aware of how people in the 21st century would come to understand them.
Back then, most people in our country believed that the Indians were victims of ignorance and underdevelopment. They were encouraged or forced to gain the necessary tools to live a civilized life, as the European settlers knew it. These days, as I hope we all know by now, Native American culture deserves just as much respect as any other culture.
A Kiowa’s Odyssey is the firsthand documentary of a person caught in the middle of a cultural and philosophical struggle. Looking at the drawings, one can recognize the special gift the artist gave us. Though not skilled with formal artistic training, the artist’s drawings are lucid, purposeful representations of a series of events. Most importantly, they come from someone who has life experience from multiple perspectives. He’s an interloper, a double agent, and his drawings were a product of his free will, not an assignment from his captor.
Many of those prisoners, particularly the younger ones, continued their westernized life even after their imprisonment was over. During his lifetime, the artist was fully American and fully Native American, and the drawings at the Cummer Museum are the product of that short period of time when he was simultaneously both.
Get out to the Cummer soon to check out A Kiowa’s Odyssey: A Sketchbook from Fort Marion. For more information about this or any of their exhibitions, go to cummer.org.
Article Published in the 2-21-08 Issue of EU Jacksonville
|
