John Hitchcock: Horse Songs Gallery Walkthrough

Exhibition Statement
"On September 27, 1874, Tonkawa scouts, under the command of Colonel Ranald Slidell Mackenzie, peered into a giant crevice in the High Plains that would come to be known as Palo Duro Canyon. Below them, Comanche, Kiowa, and Cheyenne lodges lined the canyon floor for miles; hundreds of horses grazed the curing grass."

Bone of Conciliation A ceremony of healing in Comanche Country, by Henry Chappell, Orion Magazine, September/October 2008

The artworks for Horse Songs were created to honor, remember, and respect the Comanche, Kiowa, and Cheyenne people and their horses.

In 1874, the US Military leader Ranald S. Mackenzie ordered the 4th U.S. Cavalry troops to slaughter an estimated 1400 horses and mules in Tule Canyon belonging to the Comanche, Kiowa, and Cheyenne people who had set up camp in Palo Duro Canyon, Texas. This act of genocide contributed to the forced removal of the Comanche people to the present-day Wichita Mountain area of Lawton, Oklahoma, which is my home.

Horse Songs consists of sculptural horse masks and works on paper. I screen print and paint on a variety of materials such as Naugahyde, felt and paper. The images I use are abstract representation of what’s above, on and below the land. While painting, drawing and printing, I am thinking about how we contribute to society and the challenges we face currently and in our future. I consider the importance of place, being grounded with oneself and our quest to discover more about who we are as a people. I’m looking at the stars as the future, present and the past. The four-pointed stars represent the cardinal direction (north, south, east, west) and locating and place. The black and silver lines and X’s and circled X’s throughout my works are in reference to time and history. X is the unknown. The X keeps track of time and the quest for knowledge marking our accomplishments and failures. I am also thinking about our ability to affect our planet. The x shapes are a reference to all the people and animal who have died in conflict from first contact in the indigenous wars to current wars we are engaged in. The X reference the buffalo that have disappeared from the plains and recently have re-populated. The X also reminds us of the number of deaths from COVID-19 epidemic that we are currently in. The hourglass shapes are in reference to time. another form of measurement tool or thinking process about duration of land and space in people.

As an artist, I am continually asking questions about our society and the importance of how we contribute to progress and our future together.
-John Hitchcock