SPRINGFIELD — A hallway at the D’Amour Fine Arts Museum in Springfield is lined with portraits of Indigenous people. Those who have gone missing, those who care for them and those who have been silenced.
The exhibit, “Portraits in RED,” is the work of Western Massachusetts-based artist and activist Nayana LaFond, a member of the Metis Nation of Ontario.
The oversized acrylic-on-canvas paintings present their subjects larger than life. The art draws viewers to the person’s eyes, painted in sharp detail. It creates a feeling of intimacy and humanizes the subjects.
“Lauriana in RED” is the first portrait LaFond created. It is a depiction of Lauriana Bear, a First Nations Saskatchewan woman of the Plains Cree people, painted from a selfie she posted in honor of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples Day of Remembrance. LaFond posted the photo online and received 25 messages in the first day from people affected by the crisis.
“It was then, I knew I had to paint them all,” the artwork label quotes LaFond.
The portraits in the exhibit feature an array of women and one man, all of whom are either missing, murdered or activists working to draw awareness to and end the crisis. Some people featured are dressed in traditional garb, while others are in daily dress. Two of the paintings are based on selfies taken by the women themselves. The images are painted in black-and-white with highlights of red — believed by many Indigenous traditions to be the only color visible in the spirit world — including a handprint over their mouths, representing the silence around their disappearances and murders.
The exhibit includes a station with red strips of paper attached to a lattice. People are encouraged to write messages about being a voice for the silenced, and the healing power of art. For LaFond, herself, she began painting the portraits in 2020 as a therapeutic exercise. Since then, she has completed more than 100 portraits.
A 2016 study by the National Institute of Justice stated that 84.3%, more than four in five, American Indian and Alaska Native women have experienced violence in their lifetime, including 56.1% who have experienced sexual violence. Nearly 40% of the people examined had experienced violence in the 12 months prior to the study. Overall, more than 1.5 million Indigenous women in America have experienced violence in their lifetime and murder is the third-leading cause of death among these communities.
The issue is not limited to the United States. Indigenous people throughout Canada also go missing and experience violence at higher rates than non-Indigenous people.
Information from the National Crime Information Center states that there were 5,712 reports of missing American Indian and Alaska Native women and girls in 2016. Despite this, the US Department of Justice’s federal missing persons database, the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System only logged 116 of those cases. In August 2021, the database reflected that there were 734 unsolved cases involving missing Indigenous people from 36 states. Alaska alone accounted for 292 of those cases.
Indigenous people who go missing are often the victims of human traffickers. In 2017, the Government Accountability Office surveyed 32 tribal law enforcement agencies and 27 reported conducting investigations involving human trafficking from 2014-2016. Six of the 61 major city law enforcement agencies that responded reported human trafficking investigations involving at least one Native victim during the same period.
“Police aren’t asking the right questions when it comes to those who are missing or who are trafficked,” Jayden Henderson of the Mashpee Tribe’s Victim of Crime Office said in a quote on the artwork label for “Crystal in RED.” Crystal Perry, who was a member of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe, was murdered along with her partner, Kristofer Williams, in Fall River in 2013.
Women and girls are not the only Indigenous people who have gone missing or met with violence at higher rates than their non-Indigenous counterparts. Included in LaFond’s portfolio of paintings is “Willard in RED.” The young father went missing in Gallup, New Mexico in 2021. According to the artwork label, his mother had her own search crew look for Willard because “police were not helping.” His body was found in a field on the reservation. “Anonymous in RED2” depicts an unnamed two-spirit person. Two spirit is a term used in many native traditions for a third gender that encompasses both masculine and feminine spirits.
A pair of paintings at the end of the exhibit show just how widespread, yet personal the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous people has become. “Willow in RED” is a painting of a teenager from Calgary, Alberta Canada. Just shy of her 17th birthday, her hair is brushed up over her head and covers one eye. The bandana around her neck and gauged ears add to her youthful, punk rock aesthetic. Next to her is “Vanessa in RED,” which features Willow’s mother. She is shown in native regalia. The hand placed on her waist and her expression conveys strength and defiance. Vanessa reached out to LaFond about portraits of her three nieces who had gone missing. Shortly after contacting the artist, Willow was found murdered in 2021.
The exhibit runs through Sept. 7. To learn more about the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous peoples and LaFond’s “Portraits in RED,” visit nayanaarts.com.
