Bently Spang (Northern Cheyenne), Modern Warrior Series: War Shirt #4 - National Sacrifice, 2010. Glass beads, velvet, silk plant leaves, rubber figures, color photographs, Ethernet cord, SD card, plastic packaging, and hemp cord; 45 1/2 x 55 x 12 in. Denver Art Museum: William Sr. and Dorothy Harmsen Collection at the Denver Art Museum, by exchange, 2010.491A-B. © Bently Spang.

height: 45 1/2 in, 115.5700 cm; width: 55 in, 139.7000 cm; depth: 12 in, 30.4800 cm

Native Arts

Indigenous Arts of North America

Artist Bently Spang uses new materials to celebrate his ancestors: “I made this shirt to honor the ‘National Sacrifice’ my relatives in the past made to secure my people, the Cheyenne or Tsististas and Suhtaio as we call ourselves, our beautiful homeland . . . the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in Montana . . . wherein the flowers and rocks depicted on this shirt reside . . . our relatives in the past gifted us with their powerful intellect, their unshakable resolve and a fierce pride in our identity. In this shirt I have tried to bring all these gifts together to comment on my experience in this time period, just as my relatives did . . . in the past.”

Created by the artist, 2010; Purchased by the Denver Art Museum, 2010.