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Rose Powhatan (born 1948) is an American mixed-media artist, author, and activist. Powhatan is an inaugural member of the Culture Caucus at the Lincoln Center. She is a Cafritz Foundation and Fulbright Scholar member. Powhatan attended Howard University and the University of London.

Background and family

Powhatan was born in Washington, D.C. Her mother is artists Georgia Mills Jessup. Rose Powhatan married Michael Auld, and their son is Kiros Auld.

She has stated, "I am an Indigenous female elder descended from the Pamunkey and the Tauxenent (Dogue) tribes. Gary Gray, former chief of the Pamunkey Indian Tribe states that their chief in the 1980s "handed out 'paper cards' to Auld's mother and grandmother" and, "We spent several years using exact criteria, and they didn't meet it. Kiros's family know they are not enrolled citizens of the tribe.'"

Her extended family includes 29 art practitioners.

Education

Powhatan attended Howard University in Washington D.C., where she studied studio arts, art history, and education. She completed her graduate studies at the University of London.

Museum

Powhatan and her husband, Michael Auld, cofounded the Powhatan Museum, in Washington, DC, 2000. Their website and collection provide information on the first European encounters in the Americas; the Powhatan Confederacy of the Virginia Territory and the Indigenous Peoples of the Caribbean, the Taino and Kalinago (Island Carib). The Powhatan Museum should not be confused with the Pamunkey Indian Museum and Cultural Center, a tribal museum in King William, Virginia.

Artworks

Powhatan's artwork calls for respect for Indigenous cultures. She researches traditional Eastern Woodlands Indigenous designs for her artwork.

"Soweto/So-We-Too" is a silk-screen print that expresses the connection of Native and other oppressed people. Palestinians, Native Americans, and South Africans are represented by cultural symbols that are related to traditional housing. The colors in the print symbolize the four sacred Native American colors, directions, and races of humanity.

"Fire Woman Warrior" is a sculpture of Keziah Powhatan.

"Pocahontas Unmasked" is a print of a distant maternal cousin. This print is Powhatan's interpretation of an unmasked English version of Pocahontas. It is based off of John White's watercolors based on the Amerindian phenotype from 1585.

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

• "Age-Old Tribe's Dream Painter," Fondo Del Sol, Washington D.C, December 19, 1990-January 26, 1991.
• "Culture Caucus Summer Festival: Rose Powhatan," The Reach at The Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C., September 2-3, 2022.
• "Wingapo! Welcome to the Native American Dance Circle," The Kennedy Center, Washington D.C., July 8-July 10, 2021.

Group exhibitions

• "Totems to Powhatan," Vienna, Virginia, metro station, 1988.
• "'SUBMULOC': REVERSING THE TIDE," Fondo Del Sol, Washington, D.C., June 26, 1992-July 11, 1992.
• "The Land Carries Our Ancestors: Contemporary Art by Native Americans," National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., October 4, 2023-January 15, 2024.
• Visual Power: 21st Century Native American Artists/Intellectuals, 2005, traveling exhibition, curated by Phoebe Farris

Film

Powhatan appeared as an extra in the 2005 historical film The New World.

Publications

Books

• The Things I Prefer to Be Forgotten (by Alexei Auld, illustrated by Powhatan) (2014)
• Tonto Canto Pocahontas (by Alexei Auld, illustrated by Powhatan) (2013)

Articles

• My American Liberty Story: Rose A. Powhatan
• Opinion | D.C. Once Had an Indigenous Queen, Cockacoeske, the Queen of Pamunkey. Remember Her Story.

External links

• Powhatan Museum of Indigenous Arts and Culture, archived

References

1. ^ "Rose Powhatan | Kennedy Center". The Kennedy Center. Retrieved 2024-03-31.
2. ^ "Woolly Mammoth to host free evening of work by Native artists". DC Theater Arts. 2023-01-12. Retrieved 2024-03-31.
3. ^ Farris, Phoebe (2005). "Contemporary Native American Women Artists: Visual Expressions of Feminism, the Environment, and Identity". Feminist Studies. 31 (1): 95–109. doi:10.2307/20459008. hdl:2027/spo.0499697.0031.105. ISSN 0046-3663.
4. ^ "Indigenous Story-Teller Rose Pwohatan a Feature during Kidz Harvest Fest Friday Oct. 30". Indian Village 2023. Retrieved 2024-03-31.
5. ^ Auld, Michael (2021-09-15). "Telling D.C.'s Story: Who are the Indigenous Washingtonians? | Cultural Survival". www.culturalsurvival.org. Retrieved 2024-05-12.
6. Powhatan, Rose (2021-03-26). "Opinion | D.C. once had an Indigenous queen, Cockacoeske, the Queen of Pamunkey. Remember her story". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2024-05-05.
7. Vincent, Isabel. "Activist who claims ties to Pocahontas is not part of her tribe, according to former chief". MSN. p. 11 December 2024. Retrieved 12 December 2024.
8. "Powhatan Museum". AllBiz. Retrieved 12 December 2024.
9. "Telling D.C.'s Story: Who are the Indigenous Washingtonians? | Cultural Survival". www.culturalsurvival.org. 2021-09-15. Retrieved 2024-05-12.
10. "Museum & Cultural Center". Pamunkey Indian Tribe. Retrieved 12 December 2024.
11. "Keziah Arroyah "Fire Woman Warrior" and Mr. Bryant, is this junky genealogy?". 2016-04-07. Retrieved 2024-05-12.
12. Auld, Michael. "WASHINGTON DC's ONLY REAL ROYALS?". yamaye-mike.blogspot.com. Retrieved 2024-05-12.
13. Auld, Michael. "WASHINGTON DC's ONLY REAL ROYALS?". yamaye-mike.blogspot.com. Retrieved 2024-05-12.
14. Auld, Michael. "WASHINGTON DC's ONLY REAL ROYALS?". yamaye-mike.blogspot.com. Retrieved 2024-05-12.

• 1948 births
• Living people
• Howard University alumni
• 21st-century American artists
• American women activists
• American activists
• American women artists
• American mixed-media artists
• American people of Powhatan descent