I've always felt attracted to the Native American way of life and their often spectacular appearance. Needless to say I was intrigued by the work of photographers Edward S. Curtis and Getrude Kasebier and painter Howard Terpning. They captured an age and shortly after which Native American people were brutally massacred by the invaders of their land. An estimated 100 million (
! ! ! ) Native American people were slaughtered; the biggest genocide perpetuated in modern history. Yet only few are aware of this as a result of intentional falsification of historic records and the (mis)conduct of current broadcasters that either distort facts or omit them on order of the descendants of those that committed the cleansing.
The indigenous people's closely related spiritual approach to life and and its oneness with nature is without doubt the fact that appealed to me most, because I intuitively sensed that this is how beings in this material realm would perhaps one time be able to return to their original, majestic and magical existence. All is transient - some situations are ended by violent interference while others sought harmonious ways to transform. I believe the latter is the process that the Native American people attempted to do. I realize of course that there were wars between various Native American nations, but consider such to be the consequence of the ominous legacy that this material realm imposes on all life forms present in it.
I made two digital paintings so far (that are more or less finished) that depict the Native American life style. Both of which contain rifles, which is some sort of symbol that reflects their battle with the invaders that brought an entirely different way of living to the North-American continent. Also visible in the paintings are the traditional dresses, hair styles and environment. I chose to show these paintings in frames, because that is how they would look once they were giclee-printed, which is the goal of every painter. I used a computer to create them, so that they would be preserved beyond the life span of traditional materials. I started creating them in Corel PhotoPain(t), but after it continued to crash, I switched to Affinity Photo that has an UI that I find pleasant to work with.
Please click the images to see the paintings in full screen full HD resolution.
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| Tribe gathering |
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| Peace Pipes & Winchesters |
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| Lakota warrior 'Kills First' |
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| Proud Men |
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| Powow |
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| Kiowa warrior |
