On a gray afternoon in February, nearly 100 visitors joined members of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians on the mezzanine gallery of the Pacific Maritime Heritage Center in Newport. There, under the dark gaze of dozens of portraits of missing and murdered Indigenous people, tribal members offered a blessing and called for an end to violence and the beginning of healing.
The exhibit, “Portraits in Red,” is the work of Massachusetts artist Nayana LaFond, who began the series in 2020 after seeing a selfie posted on National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. Today, the portrait series numbers more than 100, includes three of members of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz and is on exhibit from New England to the Pacific Northwest.
“It snowballed,” said La Fond, whose work has been featured in Austria, Germany and Times Square. “The majority of my time – I’d say 70% of my creative time – is spent on my portrait series. If I’m not painting a painting for the series then I am doing some sort of logistical work for it,” said LaFond. “It feels like this series is my job and the other work is my hobby.”
This month, LaFond will take part in a panel discussion at the Maritime Center on missing and murdered Indigenous people and create a live painting of a new portrait. Since the exhibit opened in February, the response has been overwhelmingly positive, LaFond said.
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“After the exhibit opened, I received messages from family members of the Siletz portraits I painted,” LaFond said. “They had a sort of a visceral healing response, a positive, but heart-wrenching reaction. It has a heavy energy, which is to be expected given the topic, and there was some understandable uncomfortableness. It’s a hard topic and hard topic to discuss publicly.”
The exhibit opened with portraits of two missing Siletz tribe members, Delight Attebury and Manny Bayya. LaFond later added a portrait of Anthony Tolentino, a 17-year-old member of the tribe who died in 2021 and whose death is under investigation. His mother, Cecilia Tolentino, reached out to LaFond after the exhibit opened.
Visitors have come to see the portraits from all over the Pacific Northwest, said Susan MG Tissot, executive director of the Lincoln County Historical Society, which operates the Pacific Maritime Heritage Center. “We actually had a couple drive from Tacoma specifically to see it. They didn’t even look at the rest of the building. People are seeking it out.”
LaFond painted the first portrait in the series after seeing a selfie shared by Lauraina Bear of Saskatchewan on the Internet on May 5, the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. In the selfie, Bear wears a bright red sweater and a red handprint over her mouth, symbolizing solidarity with the victims. LaFond was drawn to paint the portrait as a means of contributing to awareness efforts, but also as a form of healing for herself. The Massachusetts artist is of Anishinabe, Abenaki, Mi’kmaq and Metis descent.
The portrait drew more than 2,000 likes and hundreds of comments the first night it was on Social Distance Powwow, a Facebook page dedicated to “bringing our marginalized perspectives to the world for future generations.” A second portrait brought more than 3,000 visits. Since she had spare canvasses around her house and was isolating because of COVID, LaFond put out an offer to paint other missing or murdered Indigenous people, expecting a handful of requests.
“I got 25 the first day,” LaFond said. “I very quickly realized I couldn’t cherry-pick them. So, I decided I would paint all of them, that 25 would be it. But they didn’t stop coming.”
Each portrait features the red handprint, symbolizing the victim having been silenced, but are otherwise painted in black and white. When possible, LaFond paints in traditional portrait style: the subject centered, the background blurred. “We have been trained to associate that with kings and dukes and people worthy of that status,” LaFond said. “I came to the realization that I, as a victim of domestic violence, was almost one of them. I was intubated and ventilated and on life support. I had to ask myself, ‘How would I want to be represented?’ I would want to be represented with dignity. A lot of these people are being blamed for their own murders.”
LaFond does not charge anything for the paintings, but she does sell reprints with the families’ permission to help pay for the project. She also accepts donations of supplies – but not money – on her website.
The live painting at the Pacific Maritime Heritage Center is a form of “artivism,” LaFond said. “It’s a combination of art and activism and something I do regularly, sometimes at a powwow and a lot in New York City. When I do it someplace public, they ask ‘Why aren’t you painting the scenery around you, why are you painting a person?’ That sparks a conversation. In this particular instance, it’s more about sharing my process. For me, this project is a therapeutic process. When they watch me, they can experience some of the experience I have while painting, which is kind of a meditative experience.”
At the March 25 demonstration, LaFond hopes to paint the portrait of a murdered or missing Indigenous person from the area but will do so only if someone requests it. “I specifically don’t ask because it feels predatory,” she said. If no one comes forward, she’ll paint from a photo of a victim a family has previously sent.
For the Siletz tribe, the exhibit is an opportunity for awareness of the heightened violence Native men and women experience. A 2016 study by the National Institute of Justice found that more than four in five American Indian and Alaska Native men and women have experienced violence in their lifetime.
“This is not just an issue with our tribe, but across the nation,” said Miranda Williams, executive health director at the Siletz Community Health Clinic. “This is something so big … so shocking. It’s sensitive, it’s emotional, it’s hurtful. It needs attention and we need to continue to get support. That’s why this work can’t stop. It has to continue.”
“Portraits in Red” will be on display in Newport through May 7, before it moves to locations in Ilwaco, Ellensburg and Yakima, Wash., then to Pendleton.
“Portraits in Red: Missing & Murdered Indigenous People Painting Project”
On exhibit through May 7 at Pacific Maritime Heritage Center, 333 S.E. Bay Blvd., Newport. At 6 p.m. March 23, the museum will host a panel discussion with Miranda Williams, executive health director of Siletz Community Health Clinic, moderating a discussion with artist Nayana LaFond; Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians CARES Team members Rachelle Endres, Alexcia Gonloff, Sierra Warren, Jenifer Metcalf and Serena DePoe; and Tribal Councilwoman Selene Rilatos. LaFond will do a live painting at 1 p.m. March 25 at the museum. Find more information at oregoncoasthistory.org/category/news-events and nayanaarts.com
— Lori Tobias, for The Oregonian/OregonLive
