Richard Ray Whitman

Richard Ray Whitman
Richard Ray Whitman, 2010
Born1949 (age 75–76)
Claremore, Oklahoma, U.S.
NationalityMuscogee (Creek) Nation, American
EducationInstitute of American Indian Arts
Known forActing, Photography, mixed-media, film, painting
Notable workStreet Chiefs
Websiterichardraywhitman.wordpress.com

Richard Ray Whitman (born 1949) is a Yuchi-Muscogee multidisciplinary visual artist, poet, and actor. He is enrolled in the Muscogee Nation and lives in Oklahoma.[1][2]

Early life and education

Whitman was born in Claremore, Oklahoma, in 1949.[3] His maternal grandmother was Polly Long.[1] Like many Yuchis, Whitman is enrolled in the Muscogee Nation.[4] He grew up in Gypsy, Oklahoma, and attended Bristow High School. He also attended the Institute of American Indian Arts, the California Institute of the Arts, and the Oklahoma School of Photography in Oklahoma City.[1]

Career

Whitman began his art career as a painter and expanded to photography, installation, and video art.[4] In 1973, he participated in the 71-day occupation of Wounded Knee and created art during the occupation.

Photography

Whitman is known for his black-and-white photography portraying contemporary Native realities, especially his "Street Chiefs Series" from the 1970s and 1980s. "Street Chiefs" features images of homeless Native men, primarily in downtown Oklahoma City. "The contemporary Indian in the isolation of the city canyons and rural reservations is avoided. The boredom, pain, frustration, poverty of the reality-counterbalance of our lives is harsh, unattractive, and unmarketable."[2] His photographic portraits are compassionate and empathetic to the lives of homeless natives and places them in the larger context of Indian Removal, which forced tribes from all over the country to Indian Territory.[4]

From the 1980s onward, Whitman has incorporated text and computer graphics in his photography to create collage or mixed media. His socio-politically informed work often deals with the issues of homeland and dispossession.[4]

Videography and acting career

Collaborating with Yuchi poet and brother Joe Dale Tate Nevaquaya, Whitman created video to document the Yuchi language. Together they worked with French filmmaker Pierre Lobstein in the 1990s. Whitman read T.C. Cannon's poetry in the video "Mazerunner: The Life and Art of T.C. Cannon" which was directed and edited by Phillip Albert. This work was subsequently screened at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (3/19/1994) and was presented on the Bravo Cable Channel and the Independent Film Channel from May, 1995 through June, 1996.

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1988 War Party Harold
2003 American Indian Graffiti: This Thing Life Barry
2006 Rune Tecpatel
2007 Four Sheets to the Wind Frankie Smallhill
2007 Missionary Man Chief Dan
2009 The Only Good Indian Father of stolen child
2009 Barking Water Frankie
2013 Winter in the Blood John First Raise
2013 The Cherokee Word for Water Roger
2014 Drunktown's Finest Harmon, John
2016 Neither Wolf Nor Dog Grover
2021 Oklahoma Mon Amour Lloyd
2021 Montford: The Chickasaw Rancher Joe Carlton
2022 The Unknown Country Grandpa August
2024 Jazzy Grandpa August

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1994 Lakota Woman: Siege at Wounded Knee Carter Camp Television film
2019 Chambers Harrison Yazzie 3 episodes
2021–2022 Reservation Dogs Old Man Fixico 5 episodes

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Lester, 619
  2. ^ a b Lippard, 216
  3. ^ Vigil, Jennifer C. "Richard Ray Whitman." Museum of Contemporary Native Arts: Vision Project." (retrieved 10 May 2011)
  4. ^ a b c d Abbott, Larry. Richard Ray Whitman, Yuchi. A Time of Visions. (retrieved 25 August 2009)

Further reading

  • Lester, Patrick D. The Biographical Directory of Native American Painters. Norman: Oklahoma University Press, 1995. ISBN 0-8061-9936-9.
  • Lippard, Lucy. Mixed Blessings: New Art in a Multicultural America. New York: The New Press, 2000. ISBN 1-56584-573-0.