Anna Tsouhlarakis' work "HER MAN THINKS HE'S A HUNTER BUT HE CAN'T EVEN TRACK HER," 2024. Paper collage on wood panel
USA TODAY
Contemporary Native Artists are Telling Stories Modern and Traditional
By Debra Utacia Krol
December 2, 2024
After decades of “staying within the lines” of what was considered traditional Native art, Indigenous artists are increasingly moving into the contemporary art space.
Whether creating fine-art photography, performing, public space exhibits or cutting-edge shows, these Native artists are delving into more diverse crafts, following their own muses.
Anna Tsouhlarakis: Installing Peeks into Native America
Native artist Anna Tsouhlarakis aspired to push the boundaries of “ways of making.”
Tsouhlarakis, who’s an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, was raised by a single father, Navajo silversmith Naveek Tsouhlarakis. She is also related to the Muscogee Creek and Greek peoples.
“He pushed the boundaries a bit and made work that was not necessarily seen as traditional but is gorgeous work from gold, silver, turquoise and semi-precious gems,” she said. “I took his scrap wood when he was a contractor during the day and making sculptures out of those.”
But Tsouhlarakis never thought of herself as an artist until college, where art history classes showed her that Native art, like African American and Latin American art, incorporated new media and new materials.
In the late 1990s, Tsouhlarakis grew interested in video, installation and performance arts. At the time, few Native artists were engaged in these art forms, she said. “But I wanted to be one of those Native artists that's helping push the boundaries of ways of making.”
She was also pushing against the idea of the beauty, precision and perfection her dad’s art exemplified. “That’s why I don't try to necessarily make things that are perfect, you know, and precise,” she said.
But Tsouhlarakis has continued to hold Navajo beliefs and ways of seeing the world close to her. “The Native way of being and seeing the world is integral,” she said.
Although her work, which includes huge text pieces, multimedia sculptures, video and performance pieces, may appear different from traditional Navajo motifs, she said her artistic foundation is based on Navajo teachings and experiences.
She said her work speaks to both Native and non-Native viewers. “It creates a real connection for Native people who read the text pieces and are like, ‘Wow, I know that.’” Although some of her work relates to how Native people interact with each other, at least one exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery took a more somber note. Portrait of an Indigenous Womxn [Removed] commemorated murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls.
Like other Indigenous artists, Tsouhlarakis balances her work as an artist and assistant professor of art practices at the University of Colorado, Boulder, with parenting her own three kids, ages 10, 12 and 14.
“For me, it's really important that I'm an artist and a professor and a mother because it seems so rare,” she said. “I feel like a lot of people, especially young women feel like they can't necessarily have kids and be successful.”