Tone Deaf by Julie Buffalohead 2021 | Edition of 15 | Lithograph, screenprint and collage | 34 ⅝” x 61 ½”
Highpoint Editions is thrilled to announce the publication of a powerful new print edition by Minnesota-based indigenous artist Julie Buffalohead.
The print, titled Tone Deaf, is produced in an edition of 15 impressions, using lithography, screenprinting and collage. With this print, Buffalohead continues the thematic bent of much of her work, depicting American Indian experience through personal metaphor and narrative, drawing from traditional stories and contextualizing motifs of cultural identity.
The artist uses two coyotes in this work, often depicted as characters of dual nature representing both creator and destroyer, suspended in a mirrored relationship, symbolic of the balance between two opposites. This scene plays out between two borders of a stencil pattern, which represent ribbon work found on traditional American Indian clothing (details which are incorporated into much of Buffalohead’s recent work).
The work comments on the heightened polarization of society, the politicization of the Covid-19 pandemic and the disproportionate impact of the epidemic on the American Indian population. One coyote holds the now ubiquitous face mask as if to shield itself, while the other, clutching a protest sign, tumbles head-first under the cover of U.S. flags.
From the artist: The piece stems from recent events, specifically the Covid pandemic and the politicization of the epidemic. The two coyote figures exist in a suspended space in which they are mirroring each other, sentient and vulnerable. They are representative of groups that are polarized in the United States, who are validating their own world views inside a narrow vacuum.
One Coyote holds up a mask that states "help" – a symbol of the disproportionate numbers of American Indian people dying from Covid. The opposing Coyote is blanketed by small American flags and holds a sign with the title "Tone Deaf", another associated semaphore.
These figures are very similar, like a mirror image. This speaks to the polarization of American political views. The piece specifically addresses the politicization of mask wearing and the phenomenon that exists within American patriotism and various demographics who refute masks. What are the consequences of that?
I was interested in exploring this lack of conscientiousness toward other people who are at risk. Framing this into my own context, and setting up a drama of flag-like proportions I reference the cartoon antics of Wile E. Coyote of the Looney Tunes to literally hold up a sign provoking conscious action. The pandemic has demonstrated that no one is immune; we are interconnected.
Tone Deaf is available now at Highpoint Center for Printmaking. For purchase inquiries please contact Gallery Director Sara Tonko at sara@highpointprintmaking.org.