Denise K. Cummings

Denise K. Cummings is Associate Professor at Rollins College, where she teaches film history, theory, and criticism, critical media and cultural studies, and American and American Indian literature, culture, and film....

Visualities
Perspectives on Contemporary American Indian Film and Art

 Edited by

Denise K. Cummings

In recent years, works by American Indian artists and filmmakers such as Jaune Quick-To-See Smith, Edgar Heap of Birds, Sherman Alexie, Shelley Niro, and Chris Eyre have illustrated the importance of visual culture as a means to mediate identity in contemporary Native America. This insightful collection of essays explores how identity is created and communicated through Native film-, video-, and art-making; what role these practices play in contemporary cultural revitalization; and how indigenous creators revisit media pasts and resignify dominant discourses through their work. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, Visualities: Perspectives on Contemporary American Indian Film and Art draws on American Indian Studies, American Studies, Film Studies, Cultural Studies, Women’s Studies, and Postcolonial Studies. Among the artists examined are Hulleah J. Tsinhnahjinnie, Eric Gansworth, Melanie Printup Hope, Jolene Rickard, and George Longfish. Films analyzed include Imprint, It Starts with a Whisper, Mohawk Girls, Skins, The Business of Fancydancing, and a selection of Native Latin films.

Reviews

"Recommended" - CHOICE

"Visualities is a magnificent addition to contemporary Native American art analysis. A fitting quotation is re-selected in closing: 'The Indian with a camera announces the twilight of Eurocentric America' [Leslie Marmon Silko]." -
Midwest Book Review

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