Women’s Traditional

Del Curfman’s colorful Women’s Traditional dancer floats on a stark white background. 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.’ This idea of disappearance has been a mainstream thought that has been propogated by Edward Curtis, a photographer who in 1904 produced a collection of photgraphs 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