10/02/22 - Gregg Deal, Rose Ramirez, and Deborah Small

In the first half of the show, Tiokasin welcomes back longtime friend of “First Voices Radio” Gregg Deal, (Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe). Gregg is a multi-disciplinary artist, activist, and "disruptor." His work is informed by his Native identity and includes exhaustive critiques of American society, politics, popular culture and history. Through paintings, murals, performance work, filmmaking, spoken word, and more, Gregg invites the viewer to confront these issues both in the present and the past tense. In a 2018 TED Talk, Greg described his work as “honoring Indigenous experiences, challenging stereotypes, and pushing for accurate representations of Indigenous people in art.” It is in these "disruptions" of stereotypes and ahistorical representations which Gregg uses the term to describe his work. Gregg has exhibited his work at notable institutions both locally, nationally, and internationally including the Denver Art Museum, RedLine Gallery, and The Smithsonian Institution.

The artist currently lives with his wife and five children along the Front Range of Colorado. Gregg’s current exhibit, “End of Silence,” is on view through October 12th at RedLine Contemporary Art Center in Denver, Colorado. A major review in The Denver Post on September 19, called the exhibit, “loud in every way,” and also said it is “one of the best, and most ambitious, exhibitions this year in the region. It has a lot to say, as much about painting and pop culture as it does the politics of convenience, human mistreatment and oppression — and in that way it lives up to its title.” More information about Gregg is at greggdeal.com.

In the second half, we feature a discussion about “Saging the World,” a 20-minute documentary which is the focal point of a campaign to deter the global rush on white sage (Salvia apiana), driven by widespread cultural appropriation of smudging. Tiokasin’s guests are Co-Directors Rose Ramirez and Deborah Small. The film was created by Rose and Deborah in partnership with the California Native Plant Society. More information: https://www.cnps.org/conservation/white-sage.

Production Credits:
Tiokasin Ghosthorse (Lakota), Host and Executive Producer
Liz Hill (Red Lake Ojibwe), Producer
Malcolm Burn, Studio Engineer, Radio Kingston, WKNY 1490 AM and 107.9 FM, Kingston, NY
Tiokasin Ghosthorse, Audio Editor
 
Music Selections:
1. Song Title: Tahi Roots Mix (First Voices Radio Theme Song)
Artist: Moana and the Moa Hunters
Album: Tahi (1993)
Label: Southside Records (Australia and New Zealand)
(00:00:22)
 
2. Song Title: The Path
Artist: Vince Fontaine’s Indian City
Album: Code Red (2021); Released on September 30, 2022
Label: Rising Sun Productions, Winnipeg (2021); Warner Canada (2022) (00:27:46)
 
Akantu Institute
Visit Akantu Institute, an institute that Tiokasin founded with a mission of contextualizing original wisdom for troubled times. Go to https://akantuinstitute.org/ to find out more and consider joining his Patreon page at https://www.patreon.com/Ghosthorse.