Rose Powhatan Explained

Rose Powhatan (born 1948) is a Native American mixed-media artist, author, and activist.^[1] She is a member of the Pamunkey Indian Nation and the Tauxenent (Dogue) tribe.^[2] Powhatan is an inaugural member of the Culture Caucus at the Lincoln Center.^[3] She is a Cafritz Foundation and Fulbright Scholar member. Powhatan attended Howard University and the University of London.

Powhatan and her husband, Michael Auld, are the cofounders of the Powhatan Museum.^[4] Their website and collection provide information on the first European encounters in the Americas; the Powhatan Confederacy of the Virginia Territory and the Indigenous Peoples of the Caribbean, the Taino and Kalinago (Island Carib).^[5]

Biography

Powhatan was born in Washington, D.C. and is a descendant of the Pamunkey and Tauxenent Indian tribes of Virginia.^[6] Her extended family includes twenty-nine art practitioners. Powhatan looked up to her mother, Georgia Mills Jessup who was part of the Pamunkey tribe.

Powhatan appeared as an extra in the 2005 historical film The New World.^[7]

Education

Powhatan attended Howard University in Washington D.C. studied studio arts, art history, and education. She completed her graduate studies at the University of London.

Artworks

Powhatan works primarily in themes include respect for indigenous culture and representing her culture positively. She researches traditional Eastern Woodlands indigenous designs for her artwork. Powhatan's art displays who she is and where she is from.

"Soweto/So-We-Too" is a silk screen print which expresses the connection of Native and other oppressed people. Palestinians, Native Americans, and South Africans are represented by cultural symbols that are related to traditional housing. The colors in the print symbolize the four sacred Native American colors, directions, and races of humanity.

"Fire Woman Warrior" is a sculpture of Powhatan's ancestor Keziah Powhatan.^[8]

"Pocahontas Unmasked" is a print of a distant maternal cousin.^[9] This print is Powhatan's interpretation of an unmasked English version of Pocahontas.^[10] It is based off of John White's watercolors based on the Amerindian phenotype from 1585.^[11]

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

• "Age-Old Tribe's Dream Painter," Fondo Del Sol, Washington D.C, December 19, 1990-January 26, 1991.
• "Culture Caucus Summer Festival: Rose Powhatan," The Reach at The Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C., September 2-3, 2022.
• "Wingapo! Welcome to the Native American Dance Circle," The Kennedy Center, Washington D.C., July 8-July 10, 2021.

Group exhibitions

• "Totems to Powhatan," Vienna, Virginia, metro station, 1988.
• "'SUBMULOC': REVERSING THE TIDE," Fondo Del Sol, Washington, D.C., June 26, 1992-July 11, 1992.
• "The Land Carries Our Ancestors: Contemporary Art by Native Americans," National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., October 4, 2023-January 15, 2024.

Collections

• Visual Power: 21st Century Native American Artists/Intellectuals. (2005) (traveling exhibition by Phoebe Farris)

Publications

Books

• The Things I Prefer to Be Forgotten (by Alexei Auld, illustrated by Powhatan) (2014)
• Tonto Canto Pocahontas (by Alexei Auld, illustrated by Powhatan) (2013)

Articles

• My American Liberty Story: Rose A. Powhatan
• Opinion | D.C. Once Had an Indigenous Queen, Cockacoeske, the Queen of Pamunkey. Remember Her Story.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Rose Powhatan Kennedy Center . 2024-03-31 . The Kennedy Center . en.
2. News: Powhatan . Rose . 2021-03-26 . Opinion D.C. once had an Indigenous queen, Cockacoeske, the Queen of Pamunkey. Remember her story. . 2024-05-05 . Washington Post . en-US . 0190-8286.
3. Farris . Phoebe . 2005 . Contemporary Native American Women Artists: Visual Expressions of Feminism, the Environment, and Identity . Feminist Studies . 31 . 1 . 95–109 . 10.2307/20459008 . 0046-3663. 2027/spo.0499697.0031.105 . free .
4. Web site: 2023-01-12 . Woolly Mammoth to host free evening of work by Native artists . 2024-03-31 . DC Theater Arts . en-US.
5. Web site: 2021-09-15 . Telling D.C.’s Story: Who are the Indigenous Washingtonians? Cultural Survival . 2024-05-12 . www.culturalsurvival.org . en.
6. Web site: Indigenous Story-Teller Rose Pwohatan a Feature during Kidz Harvest Fest Friday Oct. 30 . 2024-03-31 . Indian Village 2023 . en.
7. Web site: Auld . Michael . WASHINGTON DC's ONLY REAL ROYALS? . 2024-05-12 . yamaye-mike.blogspot.com.
8. Web site: 2016-04-07 . Keziah Arroyah "Fire Woman Warrior" and Mr. Bryant, is this junky genealogy? . 2024-05-12 . en.
9. Web site: Auld . Michael . WASHINGTON DC's ONLY REAL ROYALS? . 2024-05-12 . yamaye-mike.blogspot.com.
10. Web site: Auld . Michael . 2021-09-15 . Telling D.C.’s Story: Who are the Indigenous Washingtonians? Cultural Survival . 2024-05-12 . www.culturalsurvival.org . en.
11. Web site: Auld . Michael . WASHINGTON DC's ONLY REAL ROYALS? . 2024-05-12 . yamaye-mike.blogspot.com.