233. Trade (Gifts from Trading Land with White People) Jaune Quick-to-See Smith. 1992 CE oil and mixed media on canvas.

• Form
  • This is a combination of collage elements and abstract expressionist brushwork
  • Newspaper clippings and images of conquest are placed over a large dominant canoe
  • The red paint is symbolic of shedding of American Indian blood
• Context
  • The array of objects sardonically represents Indian culture in the eyes of Europeans: sport teams, Indian-style knickknacks such as toy tomahawks, dolls, and arrows
  • A large canoe floats over the scene
• Context
  • Jaune Quick-to-See Smith is a member of the Salish and Kootenai American Indian tribes of the Flathead Nation
  • The work was meant as the “Quincentenary Non-Celebration” of European occupation of North America
  • American Indian social issues caused by European occupation are stressed: poverty, unemployment, disease, alcoholism
  • Title Trade references events in American Indian History such as Manhattan being sold to the Dutch in 1626 for $24. Even if this story is apocryphal, it does highlight a history of “trade” in which Indians have been taken advantage of.