Plains pictographic drawings were predominantly created by male warrior-artists as a means of recording personal and collective histories. Produced at a time of increasing American imperial expansion on the Great Plains, Ledger Drawings speak to Plains warrior culture and the importance of the horse to it.

Dana Claxton’s photographic work resonates with the pictorial conventions of Plains pictographic drawing. By staging the human figure in a vast open space her images foreground the dress and personal belongings worn by fellow artist and filmmaker Iikaakskitowa (Cowboy Smithx). Like the warriors recorded in historical Plains drawings, Claxton’s photographs project Indigenous male identities in ways that defy stereotypical representations, influenced at once by Plains warrior culture, Hip Hop, lowriding and traditional applied aesthetics.

The exhibition is a continuation of Fast Ponies and War Bonnets: A Lakota Look at Ledger Art, an online exhibition previously curated by Ms. Claxton.

— From the Donald Ellis Gallery’s website