On Indian time at Sioux exhibition

PATRICK HAMILTON

THE SIOUX WAY: Lakota Sioux artist Jim Yellowhawk, of South Dakota performs a traditional dance in full regalia during his exhitibition opening at Momentum Gallery last week.

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There is a certain cadence to the way Jim Yellowhawk speaks. His is a steady voice that rolls over subject matter without pretension or bluster. It is, as his wife Ruth says, difficult for a Lakota Native American to speak about his accomplishments.

"It is just not done," she says.

Where the Yellowhawks are from, the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe in South Dakota, the highest respect you can pay someone is to say that they are a "common person".

"And that is who Jim is; it is who John is, too," Ruth says.

John Dawson is Ruth's brother and co-owns Equilibrium Advanced Chiropractic and Wellness Solutions in Church St, Nelson. Next door is Momentum Gallery, where Yellowhawk has his pieces hanging.

On a recent balmy Nelson night, the humble gallery was full of the people and friends the Yellowhawks have encountered during their visit to Nelson. They watched as Jim and his son Gabe, in full Lakota Sioux regalia, danced and spoke about his culture and his art.

Yellowhawk is best known for his blending of traditional symbols and modern artefacts. The art he creates is rooted in his relationships. He often draws his relatives, but through his art he also celebrates the place of his native culture.

Wherever he goes, Yellowhawk incorporates the experiences of his travels and his environment into his art. When he recently arrived in Wellington, he found a ledger book in an antique shop. It was a record from the port company, dated 1910. Yellowed pages from that book, drawn over in traditional pictograph style, now sit on the wall at Momentum. They are images and moments in time from Yellowhawk's New Zealand travels.

"I record my travels – different things, but I do it with a sense of humour. It is a way of going back to history but with a taste of the present."

One piece, Indian Time, shows the family farewelling the Interislander ferry after forgetting the date of their planned voyage across Cook Strait.

But other times, Yellowhawk simply sees his art in his dreams. "Sometimes I have to wake up and get it all down."

Yellowhawk says incorporating symbols of old with moments from the present is a way for people to learn something about Native American culture.

"There might be some people who aren't happy about me using those symbols in this way, but you can't please everyone."

He has been drawn to the arts since his youth.

"My grandmother was well known for her intricate Lakota beadwork, and my father paints scenes from the memory of his own boyhood on the Cheyenne River Reserve in Green Grass, South Dakota."

The Yellowhawk family will return to the United States in June. Until then, they are on the road, whereever it goes. They have no plans. They are on Indian time.

• Jim Yellowhawk at Momentum Gallery, Church St, Nelson until February 26.

- © Fairfax NZ News