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War Shirt #2, Modern Warrior Series by Bently Spang

Bently Spang (Northern Cheyenne, b. 1960), War Shirt #2, Modern Warrior Series
2003
Mixed media, photographs, imitation sinew, 16mm film, velvet, glass beads, metal, plastic
148 x 63 cm
Purchase
26/2745

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Bently Spang used photographic prints and 16mm film to create a powerful series of three war shirts. The body of each shirt is composed of personal photographs, including candid snapshots of family members and views of his family’s ranch on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation in southeastern Montana. Spang, like his ancestors, used materials at hand to create these shirts, which serve to honor and protect his family and culture as well as to define his personal identity. War Shirt #2 specifically pays homage to the land with multiple photographs of the landscape, strung together to form a panoramic vista.

—Kathleen Ash-Milby (Navajo), NMAI

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