As national tensions grow in a climate of polarization, more people ask the question, “What can I do?” The answer may lie, in part, in the recent field trip U.S. Native American Studies course students took to see a live gallery and talk with painter Jennifer White, who will be on campus tomorrow speaking at assembly.

During the students’ visit to the gallery, White detailed how the past shapes both her art and her experience as a self-defined “urban indian.”

White’s work offers a look into her past and uses it to tie into the greater idea that we must carry the past with us as a reference for the future.

“I think that what my mom and dad went through is different from what my grandmas and grandpas went through,” she said. “Each of them had to learn a whole new history …because we weren’t allowed a history. What they’ve learned and they’ve given me it is my obligation to keep it there.”

White also centers her heritage in her artwork; she carries the pride with her of being Arikara Proper which inspires her to show the experience of a lesser spoken-about Native American experience.

The exhibition that ran through Oct. 19 at All My Relations Gallery is titled “Arikara Proper,” after a small band of Sioux.

“So Arikara Proper.. it’s interesting because there aren’t a whole lot of us. So, when you hear people say ‘Sioux’ there are several different bands of Sioux, you’ve got a lot of neighbors, but Arikara Propers? There are not that many of us; it’s like living in the original neighborhood in [like] Boston you know? Like: ‘I live in Boston Proper.’ It’s a brag, dude. I am Arikara Proper and it is a brag.”

White said the art, not the title, is her focus.

“I paint every day, and my feelings are in my work, and that is a lifelong process as an artist and as a human,” she said. “To come up with a theme for a show just seems silly to me, to be honest. “

White’s goal is to center the voices of women, a group oppressed within the landscape of America. The imagery of the subjects in her paintings challenges that by showing the power of being female and feeling connected.

“I painted every day and the series started talking to me…all of these women talking to me,” she said. “‘Let’s go be seen.’ ‘Let’s go shine’.”

A constellation of family numbers offered White inspiration for the work.

“I have three daughters and I have three sons. There’s three sisters in my mom’s family and it’s just a really super duper powerful number,” she said.

Seven is another number that has meaning in White’s artwork.

There’s the constellation The Seven Sisters and then my husband’s Norwegian and there’s a waterfall in Norway called Seven Sisters… There’s also the seven fires of the prayer you know? It’s a powerful number and I love it,” she said.

Recently I’ve been [connecting art and family to] the number two,” White said. “That’s where my two daughters stay together like: don’t forget where you come from, this is me and you but this is me and your sister, this is me and my grandma. It’s a universal symbol for: we can do this no matter how many of us there are.”

Jennifer White’s work can be found on Facebook at Post Pilgrim Gallery-J. White.

Gallery • 4 Photos

January Cook

WHITE IN ACTION. Using the music to guide the colors of her canvas White works on her newest piece which has not been tilted yet.