Si̱shtoholloꞌ Donut VIII by Dustin Mater (Chickasaw)

Si̱shtoholloꞌ Donut VIII 

Mixed Media on Ledger Paper

6" x 13"

‘[One] part of the deadly dozen’ are donut-ified snakes that have been drawn onto original ledger paper. Ledger art is part of a long tradition of Indigenous people documenting their history on their own terms. Many Plains Native communities started chronicling events pictorially on materials like rocks and buffalo hides. Beginning in the mid-19th century, they used pages of ledger books obtained from settlers. Today, Indigenous artists use ledger paper as a means of returned autonomy with contemporary imagery as well as acknowledgement of their ancestors’ art.

Si̱shtoholloꞌ is the Chickasaw word for “rattlesnake”, whose likeness has been remixed in Mater’s mixed media series.