How Raven Halfmoon Channels Indigenous History and Identity Into Her Monumental Sculptures
In this edition of "Source Material," Raven Halfmoon takes us to Indigenous earthworks in Ohio, to visit her horses, and more.
By Katie White | Artnet | September 23, 2024
Raven Halfmoon (Caddo Nation) makes monumental, totemic sculptures that speak to the living power of indigenous peoples. Halfmoon is best known for towering, glazed stoneware figures that loom at more than twice a human scale and can weigh hundreds of pounds. These figurative beings, whom Halfmoon builds from a coil method, bridge Caddo pottery traditions with ideas rooted in the artist’s feminist matrilineal ancestry along as well as a range of artistic influences including Land Art and the Moai figures on Rapa Nui (Easter Island).
Now in a new exhibition “Neesh + Soku (Moon + Sun)” at Salon 94 in New York, the artist has taken inspiration from her name —Halfmoon—to mine the binaries of light and dark, male and female, past and present, while finding meaning in the rich spaces in between. Here for the first time, the artist presents work in stone and bronze, in addition to new stoneware sculptures. In these works, twinned figures appear, hinting at the multiplicities present in each person. Her works are still monumental, and include a 9-foot bronze sculpture and a 7-foot figure made from travertine.
The artist, who was raised in Oklahoma, has pulled from Caddo history in these new works taking inspiration from the Spiro Mounds of Oklahoma and the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks in Ohio. She’s also done deep dive of research into the interrelation of textile culture and womanhood. In these works, the dush-toh, a traditional and ceremonial Caddo hairpiece worn by women and girls has offered her evocative new meanings.
Below, Halfmoon takes us along on her journey to Earthworks in Ohio with her mother, to the stables where she visits her horses, and into ceremonial moments in Caddo culture.