Bunky Echo-Hawk Explained

Bunky Echo–Hawk
Birth Name:Walter Roy Echo-Hawk Jr.
Birth Place:Yakama Nation Reservation, Toppenish, Washington, U.S.
Nationality:Yakama Nation
Field:Acrylic painting, poetry
Training:Associate of Art degree, Creative Writing, Institute of American Indian Arts; Toyota Fellow, Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics, Naropa University
Movement:Hip hop, Native pop

Bunky Echo–Hawk (born 1975) is a Native American artist and poet who is best known for his acrylic paintings concerning Native American topics and hip-hop culture. He works in a variety of media that include paintings, graphic design, photography, and writing.

Biography

Walter Roy "Bunky" Echo–Hawk Jr. is a descendant of the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma, and an enrolled citizen of the Yakama Nation.[1] He attended the Institute of American Indian Arts in the 1990s. He served as the "co-founder and the Executive Director of NVision, a national Native nonprofit that focuses on Native youth development,"[2] and he is also a traditional singer and dancer.[3] In 2020, Echo-Hawk was featured in the PBS series American Masters for his work on Native rights and environmentalism.[4]

Themes and style

Scholar Olena McLaughlin, writing in the journal Transmotion, categorizes Echo-Hawk's work as follows: "Although it is within the stream of NativePop, Echo-Hawk's work leans more towards Pop Surrealism or Lowbrow, a movement that emerged in the 1970s after Pop Art. It engages popular culture, but in a more concrete story-telling way with slightly less ambiguity."[5] In 2011 and beyond, Echo-Hawk collaborated with Nike to develop Native-inspired apparel through their N-7 and Power of Perseverance Collection.[6]

Personal life and arrest

On October 16, 2021, Echo-Hawk was injured and his 15-year-old daughter Alexie was killed in a head-on crash early morning, as they were driving to the Pawnee Nation for a ceremonial tribal dance in Oklahoma.[7]

On January 10, 2022, Bunky Echo-Hawk was arrested for "lewd or indecent acts to children under 16."[8] A young girl reported to a Pawnee County DHS worker that "she was repeatedly touched inappropriately by Echo-Hawk, 46, between 'from the time she was 7 or 8 until 11 or 12 years old'."[8] His preliminary hearing was scheduled for March 15, 2022.[8]

Public collections

Exhibitions

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Bunky Echo-Hawk . . 2023-08-11.
  2. Web site: Bunky Echo-Hawk . 2012-09-02. Beatnation.org.
  3. News: Making Pathways w/Bunky Echohawk. Snag Magazine. 2012-09-02. 2011.
  4. Web site: Bunky Echo-Hawk: The Resistance | American Masters | PBS. 13 October 2020. Pbs.org. 3 June 2022.
  5. View of Native Pop: Bunky Echo-Hawk and Steven Paul Judd Subvert Star Wars . Transmotion . 2017 . 10.22024/UniKent/03/tm.223 . 2019-07-11. McLaughlin . Olena . 3 . 2 . 30–52 .
  6. Web site: N7: The Power of Perseverance. News.nike.com. 3 June 2022.
  7. Web site: Family Tries To Move Forward After Double Fatal I-70 Crash That Killed Colorado Teen Heading To Pawnee Ceremonial Dance. Denver.cbslocal.com. 23 October 2021. 3 June 2022.
  8. News: Kunze . Jenna . Renowned Artist "Bunky" Echo-Hawk Charged in Oklahoma . 9 February 2022 . 7 February 2022.
  9. Web site: Founder's Day Performance. Willamette University. 2012-09-02. 2010-01-19. https://web.archive.org/web/20130525070323/http://willamette.edu/news/library/2010/01/founders_day_echohawk.html. 2013-05-25. dead.
  10. Web site: Bunky Echo-Hawk. 2012-09-02. Beatnation.org.