Study Buddies, Bunky Echo-Hawk

Exhibition Label: "Passages: Persistent Visions of a Native Place," Sep-2011, Nancy Mahaney This painting offers a more contemporary Pawnee view of Kansas: the Haskell experience. The painting portrays a Pawnee boy trying to put the moves on a Native girl while she tries to study. On one hand, Haskell Indian Nations University offers a great education to Native people. It also created a melting pot of different tribes... lots of Indian people today are “Haskell babies,” having been born out of relationships created at Haskell. There are lots of inter-tribal marriages, etc. The painting also speaks to the lack of focus male Native students have... statistically speaking, there are more Indigenous women going to college, and staying enrolled, than their male counterparts.