Tatera’s Talk Reflection

Valaria Tatera is an amazing artist. Her artworks are filled with meanings and lessons about what had happened to indigenous people in the past and unfortunately are still happening. The fact that some of her artworks are abstract such as her red ribbons artwork but still manage to convey such a wonderful and strong message amazes me. Out of all the artworks that she presented that day, I think the red ribbons stood out most to me as an artist. Personally, it was the simplest one out of her artworks that day. Why did it strike me? Because through those red ribbons, you can see that somewhere out there, people are being mistreated because of their race. through those red ribbons, I felt like our world is brutal and is filled with inequality. When she shared her story, I already knew that her artworks are going to be inspired by her experiences. Through those red ribbons she made, you can tell that she wanted to have justice not just for herself but for the whole indigenous community. What I like about her artworks is that she wasn’t afraid to include her self-identity and that she chose to have a purpose as an artist. Her artworks speak volumes about what our society has failed to do and what we should be doing to change. Looking at that particular piece, made me asked myself “as part of this society what did I do to help change the inequality there is towards the indigenous community?” I felt guilty that I answered “nothing”. At that moment I remember when McLuhan said “The new feeling that people have about guilt is not something that can be privately assigned to some individual but is, rather, something shared by everybody.” It made me realized that there are artists like Tatera who choose to spread awareness about these unending problems towards the indigenous community through art because our community failed. Not one person but all of us failed to do more than enough to protect this precious community and even other communities who are struggling with inequalities.