We Got More Bounce in California

Acrylic on canvas, 36” x 36”, 4,000 USD

California today is home to more Native Americans than any other state in the United States. There are 110 federally recognized Native Nations, and 81 additional groups petitioning for recognition. Forty-five Native Nations in California were terminated* in the last few decades of the twentieth century. I teach in San Diego County, home to more federally recognized sovereign reservations (18) than any other county in the United States. While considered to be a progressive state today, California’s historic treatment of the Native population was one of state-sponsored genocide. This piece depicts a Payomkawichum Bird Dancer, and is a tribute to the resiliency of the Native peoples of California. 

*Curator’s Note: Wanting to hasten the assimilation of Native American tribes, Public Law 280 was enacted in the 1950s, ending federal government services to Indian tribes, and removing the trust relationship that had been established by treaties and the United States Constitution. Many tribes were Sovereign Nations one day, and ‘terminated’ the next. Thousands of Natives left their reservations for major urban areas, enticed by the promise of good jobs and housing—promises that were not fulfilled.