A Grim, Long-Hidden Truth Emerges in Art: Native American Enslavement
Two exhibitions highlight stories of Indigenous bondage in southern Colorado, in an effort to grapple with the lasting trauma.
By Patricia Leigh Brown
Photos by Kalen Goodluck
New York Times, Dec. 17, 2021
Artist jetsonorama, or Chip Thomas, sits in front of his installation depicting Conejos County list of enslaved Native people reproduced inside the historic Lafayette Head House and Ute Indian Agency, the site of his art installation from Unsilenced: Indigenous Enslavement in Southern Colorado in Conejos, Colorado on October 1, 2021.
Artist jetsonorama, or Chip Thomas, sits in front of his installation depicting Conejos County list of enslaved Native people reproduced inside the historic Lafayette Head House and Ute Indian Agency, the site of his art installation from Unsilenced: Indigenous Enslavement in Southern Colorado in Conejos, Colorado on October 1, 2021.
Visitors walk across the Fort Garland Museum and Cultural Center’s field, the site of the art installation Unsilenced: Indigenous Enslavement in Southern Colorado by artist jetsonorama, or Chip Thomas, in Fort Garland, Colorado on September 30, 2021.
View of the inside of the Fort Garland Museum and Cultural Center’s field, the site of the art installation Unsilenced: Indigenous Enslavement in Southern Colorado by artist jetsonorama, or Chip Thomas, in Fort Garland, Colorado on September 30, 2021.
View of an art installation depicting a ledger of names of enslaved Indigenous peoples and their “owner’s” by artist jetsonorama, or Chip Thomas, plastered along the outside wall of the historic Lafayette Head House and Ute Indian Agency in Conejos, Colorado.
Installation depicting Juan Carson, an enslaved Navajo youth (left) and Gabriel Woodson, an enslaved Navajo person in the San Luis Valley, circa 1880 (right; image courtesy Saguache County Museum) from Unsilenced: Indigenous Enslavement in Southern Colorado at the Fort Garland Museum and Cultural Center on September 30, 2021.
Laura Bertha Tolmich (Apache), who fashioned her colorful ribbon skirt for the occasion, offers corn pollen during a tree planting ceremony on September 30, 2021 at the Fort Garland Museum and Cultural Center, to honor her ancestors who were enslaved.
Artist jetsonorama, or Chip Thomas, sits in front of his installation depicting Conejos County list of enslaved Native people reproduced inside the historic Lafayette Head House and Ute Indian Agency, the site of his art installation from Unsilenced: Indigenous Enslavement in Southern Colorado in Conejos, Colorado on October 1, 2021.