My name is Danny Bell. I am a member of the Lumbee and Coharie Indian tribes 
in Eastern North Carolina. I retired three years ago from UNC Chapel Hill; I was 
with American Indian Studies for about 20 years.

When I walk in, I feel like I have walked into the past and the future and into 
another dimension of understanding. Most of our history is in some old textbooks 
and other materials, and we are oral history people, you know people have 
recorded what weÕve said. But visually seeing all of the art, and the life and the 
death and the life of Indian communities across the country is like a movie picture 
show, in a way. I am learning so much that I did not know before.

Each piece has a different story to tell. So when you see James Luna on the bed, it 
reminds us of our return to the Earth, but also everyone that will see James Luna 
and see the images and the cradle there will take his life and it lives on forever. 
It's like we are part of the circle, we are born, we live, we die, we are born, we 
live, we die. All of the different pieces take us into a different direction that gives 
us exposure to so much of life that we can't see in one place as easily as you can 
see here in the exhibition at Nasher.

Life is too short to be too serious too long, and so humor to me is part of bringing 
others in. If youÕre laughing with someone you have a relationship with that you 
cannot have when youÕre not laughing. I see laughter and humor as part of the 
growth and part of the relationship we want to have with everyone. We like to 
laugh and smile and have pleasantness all the time, and we have to bring it forth. 
It just doesn't come to us without our active participation.

In 2019, this exhibition shares with the large non-Indian community that 
American Indians are alive and well, and we have many stories to tell. John 
Wayne didn't get rid of all the Indians. We are living and breathing. It also helps to 
define or redefine what is Indian art. Indian art in the past was always teepees 
and horses and all these battle scenes. Looking at this exhibition, Indian art is 
American art. It is art that is accessible to everyone, but you have to work on it a 
little bit to bring it to where you are. You read the descriptions of the art piece 
and you learn much more about the piece but also more about yourself that you 
explore in the piece.

Indian art is just not a piece on the wall, Indian art is the crafts that have been 
made by our local people, the food that we made, the experiences that we have 
had. Indian art can't be put into one small description that covers everything.