Lindsey Bark
Cherokee Phoenix
MULDROW, Okla. – As Native American Heritage Month was celebrated in November, Cherokee Nation citizen and artist Richard D. York of Muldrow in Sequoyah County was able to contribute to the celebration of Indigenous culture through his work on a global platform.
One of five Native American artists featured, York created four distinct designs for Google Chrome and Google Chrome OS that people could view and utilize as background images on their desktop computers.
The designs were all original paintings and York said he wanted to “create visibility” for his heritage in his paintings.
“It was a challenge because I wanted to honor my ancestors and our people and really use that opportunity to kind of just create visibility for Cherokee heritage,” he said.
Through his abstract work, York said his paintings – “Uktena,” “Becoming Being,” “Quo Vadis,” and “A Lot Meant” – are meant to start a conversation or dialogue about the meaning of each work to anyone who views them.
“Specifically in these paintings and in my abstracts, what I really want to communicate is this kind of counter visuality to colonialism and what happened to our people. And this idea that we can think about things differently than what the culture we’re often surrounded by is, with like mainstream culture,” York said.
Cherokee Nation citizen and Group Product Manager for Google ChromeOS Blair Huffman, stated in a Google blog post what it meant to her to see another Cherokee’s representation of her tribe.
“This collection has a special meaning to me because it showcases important traditions and reminds me of home,” Huffman stated in the blog post. “Richard D. York’s piece ‘Uktena, or Horned Serpent’ in particular brings me back to my childhood listening to the stories of Uktena and other tales from my elders. A more solemn work, ‘A Lot Meant,’ reminded me of growing up in Oklahoma and how historical policies like allotment impacted my family and so many others.”
Aside from sharing his work, York also was able to voice his motivations, concerns and put out a call to action on what companies like Google could do to help Native communities.
“The thing I brought up was I think it was really noticeable with COVID that so many people, and especially where I’m at, that people are isolated,” he said. “I would just like to see Google, with all its ingenuity and power as a company, really take that problem on of connectivity between people that are underserved. We’ve seen what a big difficulty that’s been for Native communities where people were disconnected.”
He added that his art is one way he is able to connect to others.
“For me, I don’t understand all the motivations why I want to create art, but I would say that the fundamental one is to connect to others,” York said. “And it’s about community to me, and it’s about connecting to people and sharing, and it’s about exploration and trying to share some of that wisdom gained, or difficulty, with others. To me, that just feels like the natural place of being able to give back to the community.”
To view or purchase the featured work, click here.
