The Pandemic-Themed Artwork Honoring the Resilience of Indigenous People

Since she was 16, Assiniboine and Sioux artist Juanita Growing Thunder Fogarty—who is from the Fort Peck Reservation in Montana and is now in her 50s—has been showing at the Heard Museum and Santa Fe Indian markets, two of the biggest annual Native American marketplaces in North America. Her mother, Joyce, is also an acclaimed beadwork and quillwork artist, and over the years, showcasing their work together at these events has been an ongoing tradition—as and when their painstakingly made pieces are ready, that is. “It takes us so long to make pieces—it could take years to make just one,” says Growing Thunder Fogarty. “My mother has mentored me my entire life, and I’ve met some of my best friends in the world through Indian arts.”

This year, however, many of the markets went virtual. So when Growing Thunder Fogarty began thinking about creating an art piece for the Heard Museum’s best-of-show competition this past weekend—where artists enter a piece into a juried competition and can win a cash prize for it—she found herself struggling for inspiration. “I didn’t want to make anything that had to do with COVID,” says the artist. “It’s not something that I really wanted to draw attention to because we’re all suffering from it. But as the year went on, I felt it was time to say something.” Her latest art piece, which took her six months to create, not only makes a statement about COVID-19 but also touches on Indigenous history and the resiliency of her people in general.