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In his work, Change, artist Steven Paul Judd investigates the racism ensconced within major league sports franchises, specifically the Washington Football Team and their former racist name. The work is comprised of commercially produced ephemera for the team, gifted to the artist by filmmaker Donick Cary. Cary’s collection of memorabilia resided in his now defunct “Hall of Fame” game room at the writer/director’s Los Angeles home. The game room was dismantled in a community action during the making of the documentary Hail to the Breadsticks!, a film that redresses and interrogates the racially charged former name of the Washington team. Judd’s visual art is known for its interpretation, appropriation, and instrumentalization of American popular culture as an educational tool, creating representation and space for Indigenous voices, bodies, and narratives. In Change, Judd creates an assemblage sculpture of the team ephemera – which includes racist and reductive representations of Indigenous peoples as embodied in the team’s mascot, as well as the use of the team’s former name, a racial epitaph used towards Native peoples.  Through lighting and projection, the word “change” is articulated on the wall behind the work, signaling to the viewer not only change of the name, but perhaps more radical change in the systemic racism of the United States. 

 

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Steven Paul Judd (Kiowa/Choctaw) is an artist, filmmaker, and writer based in Oklahoma City. Known for interpreting American pop culture through an Indigenous lens, Judd’s work spans paintings, prints, photographic works, wearable art, and various design projects. As a writer and filmmaker Judd creates a platform that give space to Indigenous cultures, stories, and perspectives ranging from shorts to feature length productions. Judd is a member of Writers Guild of America and served as a staff writer for the Disney XD series Zeke and Luther.

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