BUNKY ECHO-HAWK 

Native American (Pawnee-Yakama), born 1975

Freshman 15, 2014

Acrylic on canvas

© Bunky Echo-Hawk

Gift of the Artist

2016.226

Created during a live paint at William & Mary, this painting is an example of Echo-Hawk’s activism in support of food security for American Indians living on reservations. The 1491 date depicted on the canvas is a clear reference to the pre-Columbian past, when corn or maize, was a food source solely in control of Native people. As a result of European colonization, corn spread around the globe and now feeds humans and animals in far flung places. Corn syrup, an additive in many industrially produced food items is the most common corn source for American Indians today and a likely contributor to obesity and illness among this population.