From a Buffy speech given at the Institute for American Indian Arts in Santa Fe
Digital Art:
Interview with Buffy: How Digital Art Works Are Made
Current Works by Buffy Sainte-Marie
Click on an image name to see a bigger version.
An image of a Native elder looms above and inside a valley, in which tipis are visible. The colors are hot pinks and other bright hues, fragmented and pixelated. The atmosphere is one of Wisdom bearing witness to chaos and destruction. Ilfordchrome, 48" x 56". Edition size: 35
The TricksterThis looks like a real black and white (greyscale) photograph of an impossible not quite human creature. The Trickster is described in countless Native legends as the sacred fool, who is in turn dangerous, obscene, and funny. My image which I call "the only known photo of the Trickster" isn't at all obscene, although there is something somewhat gluteus maximus about the face; but it is mostly curious. It is available as an Iris print; however, it can be installed backlit as a semi-opaque Ilfordchrome, framed in an old weathered window frame so that it appears he's looking in the window of a reservation house. Life size.
Self-portraitA photo was imported into my computer and I played with it. It is a headshot where I was wearing a lightweight veil; black hair, blackened background; and streaks of very interesting computer colors in some feathers. Ilfordchrome. About 20" x 24".
Elder BrothersAn image of two young men who look like ghosts from 1880. They semi-appear amid a wild abstract background in rich metallic colors. Ilfordchrome. Life size, (about 74" tall).
Mohawk WarriorA teenage Mohawk man from waist up, his face and body painted with blacks in a traditional Mohawk way, but the image re-painted in a digital artist's way, in teal greens. He is surrounded by other versions of his potential self, in rich reds and browns. Ilfordchrome. 24" x 24".
HandsA self portrait in deep greens and blues, and red and white. Very much pixelated. This image was used as the logo for the "Pixel Pushers" Exhibit of Digital Art at the Emily Carr College of Fine Art in Vancouver in June of 1994, and received rave reviews from Howard Rheingold, author of Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier, and in the San Francisco Examiner. Ilfordchrome. 18" x 25". Edition size 50.
Talks LiesA fictional Indian man sits like a king, giving away nothing. He is the antithesis of a traditional chief. Very much pixelated, he is surrounded by dark reds, greens and golden orange. Iris Print.
Forced to DanceAn illustration for an original story, this image has a Disney-like animation-cel quality. An Indian woman reluctantly dances in the center of the 'canvas' (screen), her head bowed, her back to us, her hands bound behind her back. She's dressed in long cloth skirts, and a spider is visible untying the cords which bind her wrists. Around the edges of the picture there are men lounging along the limbs of trees. They look corrupt and as if they are made of cement. Electric beams of light emanate from their minds to the dancing woman they control.
Fallen AngelsThis image is based on a photograph made by renown British photographer Simon Fowler. The original was used as the cover for my CD "Coincidence and Likely Stories", EMI Records. I digitized Simon's photo of me, worked with it in Photoshop, duplicating then reversing the figure, intertwining the arms; then I painted it, adding cosmic spheres and other details.
Liquid SunshineThis is a small print I made for children and the young at heart. Fantasy dolphins play in a peach-colored ocean off the Island of Kauai. It's a Fargo print.
Neon HulaThree dancers in a dream, their bodies outlined in neon. 30" x 36"
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