Target 1992

Curator: I find Jaune Quick-to-See Smith's 1992 mixed-media piece, *Target*, quite compelling. Note the juxtaposition of painting, collage, and abstraction in this indigenous-Americas artwork. Editor: My first impression? Unease. It's not aggressive, but the red palette combined with what looks like a dartboard evokes this queasy feeling of…being marked. Like there's a big "X" on something. Curator: That resonance, I suspect, is deliberate. Smith masterfully deploys collage elements – photographs, newspaper clippings, perhaps some personal ephemera. The dartboard isn't merely a whimsical addition, it becomes a focal point, doesn't it? A symbol rife with implications. Editor: Absolutely. It sits there, crowned with colourful darts that are, perhaps ironically, all around the edge, none close to the center. I mean, if this piece were music, it would be a cacophony. So much vying for your attention at once. Curator: Note the layered approach, though. The structural layering introduces both depth and complexity. The artist carefully regulates spatial arrangement, doesn't she? Directing the eye. Observe how certain colours, particularly reds and yellows, serve to both unify and disrupt. Editor: Yeah, unify and disrupt, kind of like history. Like how the story is always both connected and fractured, existing as it's experienced. I'm really feeling the rawness of it, this layering is so intense and chaotic... it tells such a familiar story. Curator: It's through this considered application of formal elements that *Target* invites, no, demands, interrogation, not merely passive observation. It uses semiotics brilliantly, compelling an analysis beyond the purely aesthetic. The dartboard, as you said, that overwhelming colour use – these speak volumes. Editor: I think you're absolutely right. And, at first, it's easy to write this piece off because you are, visually, knocked on your heels by it; but Smith wants us to think and feel beyond surface and is using this feeling of uncertainty to make us more willing to consider the story of its making. This work certainly offers an important perspective about indigeneity in America. Curator: Agreed. It transcends simplistic binaries. A fascinating statement on cultural commodification, representation, and agency, ultimately. Editor: Ultimately... yes. My unease makes sense, now. Thank you.