Sacred Smoke 

Thomas Blackshear created this painting, Sacred Smoke, using oils to depict a Native American man holding a smoldering bowl and a feather fan. The painting utilizes visual codes of Native American spirituality, such as the sacred smoke itself, to invoke a sense of cultural identity and tradition. The choice of attire, the long braided hair adorned with feathers, and the various beaded necklaces all contribute to a constructed representation of indigenous culture. This image enters into a longer history in the visual arts of the romanticization of the ‘noble savage’ following colonial encounters. Given the time and place of its making, the United States in the late twentieth century, the painting’s cultural context is steeped in the legacy of colonialism, and the ongoing struggle for Native American rights and recognition. Understanding this history allows us to reflect on the politics of imagery, and the social conditions that shape artistic production. To understand this work better, one might study the history of Native American representation in American art, and the complex relationship between cultural appropriation and artistic expression.