Shaun Chosa
“Indigenous” by Shaun Chosa, Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa citizen and painter, who uses historical photographs and sepia tone images and transforms them into colorful paintings with pop cultural themes and iconography. Chosa’s artwork centers on the faces of Indigenous portraits, sometimes providing visual clues and connections to various aspects of tribal life, customs, and assorted frames of reference. Chosa’s work embraces the diversity of Indigeneous experiences: the pride for culture and tradition, the celebration of victories and blessings, and the painful memories and realities lived by Indigenous people. He delves into popular culture and history to reassert these images of the past, giving them new life and reinserting Indigenous collective presence back in the public’s consciousness.