Baseball and Playing Indian
Responses and Resources

Braves

Charlene Teters, Artist-in-Residence
at the American Museum of Natural History
May 12 to June 1, 2002

A member of the Spokane Nation Charlene Teters, artist, lecturer and activist has been instrumental in challenging and changing the inappropriate use of Native American culture, spirituality, and images in sports mascots and corporate logos.

 

Teters' medium is popular culture, exposing the misrepresentation of images of Native Americans. Through her art and ongoing interactions with the public, Teters gives a contemporary perspective on the reality of being indigenous in America while creating a site-specific art installation, Baseball and Playing Indian.

The installation includes sports memorabilia and images of American Indians, and changes daily based on Teters's experiences and exchanges with the public. In the Response section are snapshots of the installation and comments by Teters. Read the responses of other visitors to this site, and add your own. In the Resources section are pointers to books and web sites that discuss the image of Native Americans in sports culture.

To learn more about the installation and related public programs, visit the Public Programs web site for Charlene Teters.

 

Charlene Teters
Charlene Teters, a member of the Spokane Nation, is a professor at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and the founding board member of the National Coalition on Racism in Sports and the Media in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The Artist-in-Residence Program is supported by a grant from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.

Detail of multi-media installation, "It Was Only An Indian," 1994, photo by Walter BigBee (Comanche). Charlene Teters photo by R. Mickens.

Ball/feather design: Ansel Pitcairn. Eagle feather: Courtesy of Barbara James Snyder (Washoe/Pauite)
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