Richard Ray Whitman

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Richard Ray Whitman
Richard ray whitman.jpg
Richard Ray Whitman, 2010
Born
T'so-ya-ha

1949
Oklahoma, USA
NationalityYuchi-Muscogee Nation
EducationInstitute of American Indian Arts, California Institute for the Arts,
Known forPhotography, mixed-media, film, painting
Notable work
Street Chiefs
WebsiteRichardraywhitman.com

Richard Ray Whitman (born 1949) is a Yuchi-Muscogee multidisciplinary visual artist, poet, and actor. He is enrolled in the Muscogee Nation and lives in Oklahoma.[1][2]

Background[]

Richard Ray Whitman was born in Oklahoma in 1949.[3] His maternal grandmother was Polly Long.[1] Like many Yuchis, Whitman is enrolled in the Muscogee Nation, and his Yuchi name is T'so-ya-ha.[4] He grew up in Gypsy, Oklahoma and attended Bristow High School. He also attended the Institute of American Indian Arts, the California Institute of the Arts, and the Oklahoma School of Photography in Oklahoma City.[1]

Whitman began his art career as a painter and expanded to photography, installation, and video art.[4] In 1973, he participated in the 71-day occupation of Wounded Knee and created art during the occupation.

Photography[]

Whitman is known for his black-and-white photography portraying contemporary Native realities, especially his "Street Chiefs Series" from the 1970s and 1980s. "Street Chiefs" features images of homeless Native men, primarily in downtown Oklahoma City. "The contemporary Indian in the isolation of the city canyons and rural reservations is avoided. The boredom, pain, frustration, poverty of the reality-counterbalance of our lives is harsh, unattractive, and unmarketable."[2] His photographic portraits are compassionate and empathetic to the lives of homeless natives and places them in the larger context of Indian Removal, which forced tribes from all over the country to Indian Territory.[4]

From the 1980s onward, Whitman has incorporated text and computer graphics in his photography to create collage or mixed media. His socio-politically informed work often deals with the issues of homeland and dispossession.[4]

Videography and acting career[]

Collaborating with Yuchi poet and brother Joe Dale Tate Nevaquaya, Whitman created video to document the Yuchi language. Together they worked with French filmmaker Pierre Lobstein in the 1990s. Whitman read T.C. Cannon's poetry in the video "Mazerunner: The Life and Art of T.C. Cannon" which was directed and edited by Phillip Albert. This work was subsequently screened at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (3/19/1994) and was presented on the Bravo Cable Channel and the Independent Film Channel from May, 1995 through June, 1996.

Filmography[]

  • "Reservation Dogs" (2021), FX TV series. Old Man Fixico. Created and produced by Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi
  • "Oklahoma Mon Amour" (2021). Lloyd. Director Carolina Rueda Reference: Richard Ray Whitman. The Internet Movie Database. (retrieved 14 June, 2021)
  • Chambers (2019) Netflix TV series. Harrison Yazzie
  • The Son (2017) AMC TV series. Old Warrior
  • (2016). Grover.[5] Director Steven Lewis Simpson
  • "Drunktown's Finest" (2014). Harmon John. Director Sydney Freeland. Winner, Best Supporting Actor, American Indian Film Festival, San Francisco (2014)
  • "Winter in the Blood" (2013). John Fist Raise. Directors Alex Smith, Andrew J Smith
  • "The Cherokee Word for Water" (2103). Roger - Cherokee Elder. Directors Tim Kelly, Charlie Soap
  • "Barking Water" (2009) Frankie.[5] Director Sterlin Harjo
  • "The Only Good Indian" (2009). Father of stolen child.[5] Director Kevin Willmott
  • "Missionary Man" (2007). Chief Dan.[5] Director Dolph Lundgren
  • "Four Sheets to the Wind" (2007). Frankie Smallhill. Director Sterlin Harjo
  • "Rune" (2006). Tecpatel.[5] Directors Arayna Thomas, Seth Kenlon
  • "American Indian Graffiti: This Thing Life" (2003). Barry.[5] Directors Tvli Jacob, Steven Judd
  • "Lakota Woman: Siege at Wounded Knee" (1994). Carter Camp.[5] Director Frank Pierson
  • "The Grand Circle" (1994). Co-producer with Joe Dale Tate Nevaquaya and Pierre Lobstein
  • "Mazerunner: The Life and Art of T.C. Cannon" (1993). Director Phillip Albert; T.C. Cannon poetry read by Richard Ray Whitman.
  • "Humanity's Voice" (1992). Co-producer with Joe Dale Tate Nevaquaya and Pierre Lobstein
  • "Carriers of the Light" (1990). Co-producer with Joe Dale Tate Nevaquaya and Pierre Lobstein
  • "War Party" (1988). Harold. Director Franc Roddam[5]

Quotes[]

  • We're invisible, dangerously invisible, until they want us to sing and dance and be tourist attractions.[4]
  • ...I am asked many times..., "do I consider myself a traditional Indian or a contemporary Indian?" Well, I consider myself both at the same moment. Our traditions and our experiences in contemporary life are here at the present time. Our ancestors left us a way which has been brought right up to this moment, to this very moment that I speak to you. So, from the time we are born we are political. Because we have been colonized, the nature of our experience is political, but it doesn't lessen our experience, though.[4]

See also[]

Notes[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c Lester, 619
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b Lippard, 216
  3. ^ Vigil, Jennifer C. "Richard Ray Whitman." Museum of Contemporary Native Arts: Vision Project." (retrieved 10 May 2011)
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Abbott, Larry. Richard Ray Whitman, Yuchi. A Time of Visions. (retrieved 25 August 2009)
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h [1] The Internet Movie Database. (retrieved 1 October 2016)

References[]

  • Lester, Patrick D. The Biographical Directory of Native American Painters. Norman: Oklahoma University Press, 1995. ISBN 0-8061-9936-9.
  • Lippard, Lucy. Mixed Blessings: New Art in a Multicultural America. New York: The New Press, 2000. ISBN 1-56584-573-0.

External links[]

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