Future Rodeo Queen

Del Curfman’s Future Rodeo Queen celebrates Crow Fair, the largest Native American event in Montana, and one of the biggest powwows in the country. This piece is part of Del’s Vanishing Series, which Del describes as follows: “The Vanishing Series is a response to the perception that Native American culture has or will vanish.

The idea of disappearance has been a mainstream thought that has been propagated by Edward Curtis, a photographer who in 1904 produced a collection of photographs titled ‘Vanishing Race.’

My paintings utilize the notion of vanishing through a stark white background crossing over Native American figures as if the sands of time and space are impermanent to a permanent people. Tradition will not be lost.

The Vanishing Series aims to belie this exact idea. My artwork has become a vessel of cultural sharing and knowledge.” Del graduated from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico in 2017. He lives in Santa Fe.