For those of you who are interested in the historical aspect of comics the Smithsonian will be hosting a gallery all about Native American comics.
"Comic Art Indigène examines how storytelling has been used through comics and comic-inspired art to express the contemporary Native American experience. Under the larger definition of narrative art, comic art is more related to Native American art traditions than one might expect. The earliest surviving example of such narrative art is rock art. The historic examples used in the exhibition, such as photographs of rock art, ledger art, and ceramics, are meant to link Native American art traditions with contemporary voices.
Making comics and producing art inspired by them is a method of reclaiming the narrative art form of comics and Native American culture from those who would dismiss an art for the masses. Stories of humor, adventure and the fantastic depicted through pictures have always been an indigenous practice, and Native American scribes today grapple with the same topics emboldened with millennia-old cultural traditions, blended with new methods of expression and life in the 21st Century."
The gallery will be hosted March 6, 2009–May 31, 2009 NMAI on the National Mall, Washington, DC.
