erika nelson
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Inappropriation: Representation and Identity in the American Roadside Landscape
2023 - Ongoing

Initial exploration, National Travel and Tourism Week 2023 (May 7 - 13 2023)
Collaborative project with Erika Nelson, Mona Cliff, and Armando Minjarez
Review, Lawrence Times

Some of our roadside attractions spark joy for the travelling public, but serve as a diminishment of identity for others. Where does nostalgia end and acknowledgement of cultural appropriation begin? Three artists tackled Roadside Inappropriation during Travel and Tourism week 2023 in a pop-up show at one iconic site: TeePee Junction, in Lawrence Kansas.  Art! Fudge! Souvenirs!

Mona Cliff, Armando Minjarez, and Erika Nelson joined the public for conversations surrounding identity and roadside attractions May 9 & 10 from Noon - 8 p.m. both days. Mona Cliff responded to TeePee Junction itself, erecting her family teepee inside accompanied by a Eadweard Muybridge animation of a running bison. Armando Minjarez responded to Dodge City’s ‘La Salsa Man’ with his own souvenir stand exploring surface readings of identity and production. Erika Nelson responded to Lake of the Ozark’s ‘Ozark Halfwit’ with a crawl-through Hillbilly Head, leading to a black-box gallery of personal and public hillbilly examinations.

Supported in part by an artistic innovation grant from Mid-America Arts Alliance