Seeing red

Newport exhibit shines light on hidden tragedy

Photo by Ed Cohen

By Gretchen Ammerman

Oregon Coast TODAY

The image is especially striking: a blood red hand print on the faces of indigenous activists throughout the states, provinces and territories of North America. It signifies the thousands of missing and murdered indigenous people who have been silenced by the unusually high rate of violence and extremely low rate of attention, energy and enforcement given to solving past crimes and preventing future ones.

“Portraits in Red: the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples Painting Project” exhibit, opening on Thursday, Feb. 2, at Newport’s Pacific Maritime Heritage Center, features images of 40 of the people affected: some murdered, some missing, and some current activists.

A blessing led by members of the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Indians will open the exhibit at 4 pm.

“We will actually be both opening and closing the exhibit with a blessing ceremony,” said Susan Tissot director of the Lincoln County Historical Society. “The exhibit's main goal is to create awareness about this national crisis and dispel myths.”

The portraits were created by indigenous artist Nayana LaFond, a full-time multidisciplinary artist and activist who lives in western Massachusetts. In March, she will be coming to Newport to speak about her project and also be a part of a panel discussion.

“I began this painting project without the intention of it becoming a project at all,” she said. “I intended to make one painting as catharsis as a domestic violence survivor and my matrilineal line. The response to the first painting was so strong I decided to paint another.”

Charging nothing to families and survivors for her work, LaFond has so far painted 107 portraits and has no plans to stop while indigenous violence outweighs that in other communities to such a dramatic extent.

“Even when the perpetrators are caught and brought to trial, the prosecution rate for crimes against indigenous people is currently about two percent,” she said. “There is nothing okay about that. There was one case where video footage of the incident was part of the trial and they still got away with it.”

As the awareness of the issue finally has begun to grow, most of the attention has been on missing and murdered women, but LaFond said there is a reason the project uses the word “people,” rather than “women” in the title.

“There are plenty of native men and boys that are also missing and murdered,” she said. “People even come to me with stories about multiple family members. For example, I painted Shaina, who was murdered in 2021, and in the portrait she is wearing a memorial shirt to her brother Anthony, also a murder victim.”

The portraits include three Siletz tribe members, including an 18-year-old activist.

“I wanted to make sure and include Lucy because I find it's great to include activists, too; so it’s not just trauma, trauma, trauma.”

From March 23 through 25, LaFond will be at the exhibit to participate in a panel discussion and to do a painting demonstration.

Throughout the four-month exhibit, there will be an art therapy space in the gallery as well as resource materials.

A large cloth banner will be hung in the museum and red ribbons will be available for people to write on and pin to the banner.

“We are doing this to get some awareness around this issue,” Tissot said. “Our job as curators is to be relevant and accessible. We work to preserve the past and use it as a teaching tool, but also look forward. And this does touch home, it’s happening nationwide but here, too.”

LaFond is of Anishinaabe, Mi’kmaq, Abenaki, Metis, French, German and other descent. Her paintings can be seen in collections in galleries and museums around the world. She is the former founding chief curator for The Whitney Center for the Arts and sits on several arts organization boards, including Artist Organized Art. She is an advisor for Be The Change and The Native Youth Empowerment Foundation. Also a sculptor, her work “Zoongide’e,” a sculpture about domestic abuse, was on display outside Boston’s Fenway Park for the summer and fall of 2022.

“Each painting brings me healing from my own experiences and the experiences of my family members and I hope it brings some healing to those I paint and their families,” she said. “I hope to raise awareness about this issue through exhibiting the work. Eventually, when I do make the work available for sale, I will be donating to various charities including the National Indigenous Women's Resource Center.”

One of the portraits LaFond has painted is of her own great-grandmother, a victim of domestic violence. But she will never have the chance to meet far too many of her subjects.

 “I don’t know when I will be done with this project,” she said. “Possibly never.”

The Thursday, Feb. 2, opening reception starts at 4 pm at the Pacific Maritime Heritage Center, located at 333 SE Bay Blvd. in Newport. The exhibit will remain on display through May 7. For more information, go to oregoncoasthistory.org or call 541-265-7509.