Neqeniighta, 2017

The story that we were hoping to tell with this was a story of celebration. The title means hunter/provider and it’s a noble title in Siberian Yupik. And so, we really wanted to celebrate Chris and all his efforts and let him know that we stood behind him. We believe what happened to him was wrong. And we wanted to help share that message with folks that might see this painting.

My name is James Temte. I am Northern Cheyenne Native American. I am an artist, researcher, scientist, and the piece of work that we are looking at is Neqeniighta, which means hunter and provider. It’s a Siberian Yupik word and I probably didn’t say it right.

I worked with two other artists, Michelle Xiao and Jon Burpee, and so we collaborated on this piece. And it’s a portrait of Chris Apassingok from Gambell who is Siberian Yupik. And I believe at the time of the photograph, the portrait is based off of, he is about 17 years old.

It’s a big portrait piece done in black and white with a crown of arrowheads that are stenciled on. It’s high contrast, black and white with streak of a bright teal green. There’s a lot of wave-like lines kind of circling his portrait as well as I guess arrowheads and arrows that are connected to Facebook symbol.

As an artist, sometimes a lot of times we have a platform. And so we wanted to use our platform to not fight back but celebrate. The artwork in its relation to celebration I think is something that’s really important. And in a lot of Indigenous cultures, there’s a time for ceremony and ceremony a lot of times include the giving of gifts.

As an artist, sometimes a lot of times we have a platform. And so we wanted to use our platform to not fight back but celebrate. The artwork in its relation to celebration I think is something that’s really important. And in a lot of Indigenous cultures, there’s a time for ceremony and ceremony a lot of times include the giving of gifts.