Gender, place, and cultural memory: intersections of American national identity and the art of Hopi-Choctaw Linda Lomahaftewa

Abstract

Overlooked in the mainstream of so-called American Art, the work of Hopi-Choctaw Linda Lomahaftewa embodies significant aspects of United States history. Despite a prolific oeuvre centered in a place-based aesthetic that recalls cultural memories from an "indigenous feminine" perspective, and a narrative that connects with significant people and moments from history, little scholarly attention has been paid to this remarkable woman. Further, there remains an absence of recognition for Lomahaftewa's art in major American Art museums. In this thesis, I suggest that Lomahaftewa's absence from these institutions of embodied knowledges speaks to a specific agenda - and subsequent hegemonic system - begun at contact by the western patriarchy. By looking at her life and work through the lens of feminist theory, I resist normative assumptions of aesthetics when I argue for the presence of Lomahaftewa's art in the mainstream American Art museum.