Missy Whiteman
Missy Whiteman (Northern Arapaho and Kickapoo), an Emmy nominated writer, director, producer and multi media artist. Whiteman understands her work to be a voice for her ancestors, their stories and ancestral wisdom. Her late father Ernest Whiteman, influenced her work, with the gift of artistic vision and practice of art as ceremony.
While based in part Indigenous traditional practices and perspectives, her work also addresses themes of historical genocide, loss of culture, and land in relation to colonization. Whiteman questions the connection of life, death spirit world and the rebirth process of revitalizing DNA memory, spirit healing and redefinition of cultural identity.
Many of Missy’s films have screened on international national and local venues such as The Walker Art Center, National Geographic All Roads Festival and Bilabo Spain. Whiteman is a current recipient of the McKnight Fellowship for Media Arts, Hennepin Theatre Trust/All My Relations Digital Public Arts fellowship, 2020 Forecast Public Art Mid-Career fellow, and is an alumni of The Sundance Native Lab Fellowship and Jerome Fellowship for her short film project The Coyote Way: Going Back Home.
Her current project, The Coyote Way X: Expanded Cinema is a multidimensional cinematic experience of The Coyote Way: Going Back Home short film intertwined with performance, live score, video mapping and 360/VR.
Connect
@missy_whiteman • @going_back_home_
Chroma Zone Mural Artist
Mural Title
Celestial Embodiment: X
Chroma Zone, 2021
Mural Location
Bro-Tex, Inc. (east wall)
840 N Hampden Ave, Saint Paul, MN 55114
Heart…
Warm earth, vetiver scent of whirlwind and star seed.
Illuminate…
Early morning star, nebulous, ignites our song into existence.
Conjoin…
Constellations reside, reflections ripple in sky blue oculus.
Sleep…
State of consciousness, you wait in the abyss of creation.
Existence…
Glimmering galaxies of amethyst portals blooming in your eternity.
Celestial Embodiment is a story of creation, survival and vision for future generations. During a time of change, destruction of old worlds and the creation of new worlds, new life begins in the stars.
A stylized buffalo hoof symbol represents the relationship man to buffalo for The Arapaho people. Floating sunflowers carry moons symbolizing multiverses of existence.
In the center of the mural, a young girl stands center in a red fancy shawl regalia, an Arapaho symbol of the butterfly adorned in pearlescent purple wings surround her, honoring her and remembering The Missing and Murdered victims and survivors. The moon cocoons her and represents the fertility of women.
To the right a glowing red Thunder Bird protects and calls the cleansing rain. A rainbow mosaic of stars. The 7 sisters constellation reside in the nebulus. An Arapaho quillwork stars symbol completes the story of Celestial Embodiment.
A transformational process of destruction and rebirth.
Materials:
Acrylic Mural paint, mosaic, and polytab on concrete wall.
Contributing Artists:
Juliette Myer
Apose
Guille
Tommie TopBear
Focus Smith
Image & Video Credit
Chroma Zone is grateful for the many professional photographers and videographers who have donated their time and talent to document Chroma Zone through the years. These include Jon Reynolds, Alex Olson, Ne Dah Ness Greene, Alex Prince and Wyatt Johnson.