Once upon a pre-PC time it was considered okay -- even humorous -- to depict Native Americans as savages. In everything from cartoons to big-screen epics, Indians were feather-wearing warriors with plaited hair who began every discussion with the greeting How!
Weve evolved. Today, the white man would never dream of hopping around in a circle, patting his mouth, and shouting Woo woo woo woo woo! Instead, we mostly just pretend that Indians dont exist.
Its a fact that distresses performance and installation artist James Luna. Toward that end, Luna has transformed a gallery into a mock museum dedicated to an apocryphal music career as a comment on the lack of Native presence in American pop culture.
The show, entitled All Indian, All the Time, has received solid notices for several months and is open.
Tuesdays-Sundays. Starts: Sept. 10. Continues through Jan. 9, 2010