Finding boundaries for the commodification of native culture: The annual Santa Fe Indian Market

Abstract

Known for being the epicenter of traditional and contemporary Native American art, the annual Santa Fe Indian Market has become the main source of income and exposure for many working Native artists selling their work in the Southwest. While the Market serves to benefit artists, the selection process has historically enforced problematic definitions of authenticity and tradition. Throughout the Indian Market's history, juries of non-Native anthropologists, private collectors, and museum curators imposed their definitions of what should be considered authentic and set standards that stereotype and objectify Native American art. In effect, Native artists participating in the Santa Fe Indian Market are vulnerable to niche marketing, which can lead to commodification and even marginalization. Working artists such as Jeffrey Gibson, Rose B. Simpson, and Naomi Bebo, among others, use their art to reclaim their artistic sovereignty by distinguishing themselves on the outskirts of the Santa Fe Indian Market. By taking such actions, they are breaking away from traditional expectations imposed by the juried selection process in the Market. Native artists are also highlighting the dichotomous mold set by Market juries between "traditional" and "contemporary" art, and only recently has Indian Market taken upon itself to break through the "boundaries" of these two categories, defying imposed definitions of what is traditional and authentic and letting Native American artists stand on their own terms.