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Truth and Consequences
Artist
Dyani White Hawk
(Born 1976, United States)
Date2023
MediumAcrylic, oblong glass beads, and synthetic sinew on aluminum panel
DimensionsOverall: 94 7/8 × 40 3/8 in. (240.98 × 102.55 cm)
Credit LineCollection of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Museum purchase
Object number2024.4
Status
On viewLabel TextDyani White Hawk, who is Sičáŋǧu Lakota, weaves together painting techniques with ancestral Indigenous practices to expose the universal language that is abstraction. The artist illuminates the enduring strength, presence, and influence of Indigenous artistic practices on modern and contemporary art; for example, Lakota abstraction influenced artists Jackson Pollock and Marsden Hartley. Committed to providing a platform for Native artists, White Hawk works in collaboration with community members as she creates. Her incorporation of beadwork, quillwork, and other artisanal Indigenous handcrafts reveals the connectedness of people and art forms across time.
In its use of geometric motifs, Truth and Consequences, 2023, continues White Hawk’s exploration of abstraction as a global human practice connected to expression, adornment, and language. The diamond patterning at the work’s center represents a Lakota symbol for the connection between the spiritual and earthly worlds. Truth and Consequences highlights the balance between light and dark, paint and beads, allowing these “oppositional” elements to interact in a drive towards equilibrium.
In its use of geometric motifs, Truth and Consequences, 2023, continues White Hawk’s exploration of abstraction as a global human practice connected to expression, adornment, and language. The diamond patterning at the work’s center represents a Lakota symbol for the connection between the spiritual and earthly worlds. Truth and Consequences highlights the balance between light and dark, paint and beads, allowing these “oppositional” elements to interact in a drive towards equilibrium.