That's just one of several derisive emails Danielle SeeWalker received after the Town of Vail announced it had removed her as a resident artist for its Art in Public Places (AIPP) program on May 9. The reason for her removal? A piece by Seewalker titled "G is for Genocide," which depicts a person donning a keffiyeh, a nod to the Palestinian people, as well as a red braid and feather, referencing Native Americans. Seewalker, who is a Húŋkpapȟa Lakȟóta and a citizen of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in North Dakota, had not made the piece for the residency; however, it caught the attention of town officials, one of whom ended the artist's residency involvement in an "abrupt" three-minute phone call, she says.
"This one particular piece was very different than a lot of the other pieces I've done, as it ties into a different culture outside of my own, but it still is all about my culture. And so I feel like the Town of Vail took this particular art piece that I'd done months ago and made it central to who I am as an artist altogether," SeeWalker adds.
Seewalker had not applied for the residency; rather, the town approached her in early January. "I didn't even know that they had an artist-in-residency program," she says. "It was an invitation."
Seewalker had already finalized her plans for the residency: a mural depicting outdoor scenes and implementing "Lakȟóta geometric shapes and designs and symbolism from my culture that is tied to the outdoors and plants and animals in the mountains," according to the artist.
"I was thirty days out from the residency start so everything was fully planned, ready to go," she says. "I was getting ready to pitch my proposal to them on the mural design. And I never had that opportunity."
To add insult to injury, SeeWalker had turned down other opportunities in order to devote time to the residency, which would have begun in June and lasted through the summer. She had already visited the installation site and met with program directors.
But last week, AIPP coordinator Molly Eppard tried to call SeeWalker while she was on a flight, then texted her. "Call me, we need to talk. It's an urgent matter about your residency," the artist recalls.
"And I go, 'Is everything okay?' And she's like, 'It's about your 'G is for Genocide' print. Community members saw it on your social media, and they are very upset about it,'" SeeWalker continues.
After her flight landed, SeeWalker says she was unable to connect with Eppard. "And finally, on Thursday [May 9], the deputy town manager, Kathleen Halloran, whom I've never met or spoken to prior to that, called and said, 'Hi, this is Kathleen; I'm here with Molly. I'm going to speak on her behalf,'" SeeWalker recalls. "'We're just calling to let you know that we're canceling your residency because of your "G is for Genocide" art piece. We can't have somebody like you being too political coming into our community to create art.'"
SeeWalker says she wished she could have explained her position and the context of the piece, but "they did not hear me out and shut the conversation down. The call really ended very abruptly."
The Town of Vail explained its stance in a statement:
The Town of Vail’s Art in Public Places (AIPP) is not moving forward with its summer Artist in Residency and related programs. The decision was made after concerns arose around the potential politicizing of the public art program.SeeWalker notes that her work does not often comment on such global crises, more often illustrating a connection to nature and Indigenous traditions and plights. "When it comes to genocide, I mean, being a Native American, we've faced it through our entire history," she says. "I'm born from ancestors of genocide, and so that's just my existence, but I wouldn't say that I'm putting it out at the forefront of everything I do."
Danielle SeeWalker was the artist being considered for the summer residency. While the Town of Vail embraces her messaging and artwork surrounding Native Americans, in recent weeks her art and her public messaging has focused on the Israel/Gaza crisis. While the programs around a 2-week residency were being planned, a proposal for her mural was never submitted, nor approved and therefore no contract was issued.
AIPP’s mission is to create a diverse and meaningful public art experience in Vail, but to not use public funds to support any position on a polarizing geopolitical issue.
"G is for Genocide," she explains, was meant to draw parallels between the genocide of Native Americans and the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, which has killed more than 35,000 Gazans, more than 1,000 Israelis and displaced thousands of people in the region, most predominantly Palestinians.
"What's really unfortunate is, since all this has come out into the media, I obviously got a lot of hate mail," says SeeWalker, before sharing the message at the top of this piece. "That's just not at all what I'm doing with this, and it shows the ignorance. ... Just because we have a leader of the country doesn't mean that the whole entire population follows what the leader is trying to implement. Little children that are being murdered and massacred every day don't know what Hamas really is and stands for."
However, Vail saw the painting as "too political," SeeWalker says, adding that it made Jewish members of the community in particular uncomfortable. "I was really surprised and shocked by that, because I think of all communities, the Jewish community would be very understanding about genocide. I've always been taught that Hitler was very fascinated with what the U.S. government had done to the Native Americans; he replicated a lot of those strategies on the elimination of Jewish people.
"I don't know if the people in the United States realize this," she adds, "but for Native Americans, all of us have a number that was assigned by the U.S. government, and it's based on our blood quantum. There's no other race in this country, aside from dogs and horses, that are given purebred-ness."
In a statement on Instagram, SeeWalker notes: "The beauty of art is that it's all about expression. I'll never defend my art. In my opinion, 'good' art makes you uncomfortable; it makes you question perspectives. The Town of Vail's solution is a closed-minded, judgmental one. They are consciously silencing a Native American woman artist, which ripples down to silencing people of color as a whole. Their 'art in public places' program is on their own agenda. The residents of Vail need to be reminded that they live a comfy, luxe and privileged life on STOLEN LAND. Also, I'll never be silenced."
