Kade L. Twist


Kade L. Twist is a Native American interdisciplinary artist that works with video, sound, interactive media, text, and installation. He is a member of the Cherokee Nation tribe. Twist serves as the vice president of the Native Networking Policy Center. He is co-founder of Postcommodity, a Southwest Native American Artist collective, with Steven Yazzie. Twist is also a part of an interdisciplinary artist collective. His work has been displayed nationally and internationally.

Early life and education

Kade L. Twist was born in 1971. Twist was born and raised in Bakersfield, California. He is an enrolled member of Cherokee Nation Tribe, he is part of the Long-Haired Clan. Members of the Long-Haired Clan are also members of other clans within the Cherokee Nation Tribe. Twist's father is also a member of the Cherokee Nation Tribe, specifically part of the Wolf Clan. The Wolf Clan is the largest clan within the Northern Cherokee Nation tribe.
In 1999, Twist first became a part of the American Indian Policy Seminar at American University. In 2003, he received a bachelor's degree in Native American Studies with an emphasis in tribal policy from the University of Oklahoma. In 2012, he obtained a Masters degree in Fine Arts specifically focusing in intermedia from Arizona State University. Twist is known for being a contemporary artist. He is known for his work in video, sound, and interactive media. Today, Kade L. Twist resides in Los Angeles, California. He is currently a professor in art and design at Otis College in Los Angeles, California.
Twist's focus is promoting equality among all races. To promote equality among all other races, he participated in the Repellent Fence project. This project aimed at bringing awareness of how country borders promote separation and inequality among people. Repellent Fence was made to symbolize as well as bring awareness to the disconnection between United States and Mexico.

Postcommodity

is a Southwest Native American Artist collective. Postcommodity was founded in 2007. This collective was founded by Kade L. Twist and Steven Yazzie. Overtime, the number of members of this collective has expanded. Former members include Cristóbal Martínez, Raven Chacon, and Nathan Young. Postcommodity's art style falls in Multimedia. Postcommodity art is displayed by using metaphorical background to help convey their messages.

Artworks

Repellent Fence – 2015
The Repellent Fence project that Kade L. Twist participated in consisted of placing twenty-six "scare eye" balloons 2 miles intersecting the U.S. and Mexico border. The project intended to bring awareness of the connectedness between country borders. The balloons have a medicine color. Yellow-colored balloon with a red circle on all sides. The red circle has a blue, black, and white color circles as well. These balloons lined up around the land are tied up tightly to the ground. The Repellent Fence objective was to show people that the separation of the border affects indigenous people and it is a crisis that has evolved.
It's Easy to Live with Promises if You Believe They Are Only Ideas – 2012
This art project consists in a seven-channel video installation with sound. Twist decided to switch to art after writing because he said he felt he had more freedom in visual art. So he then created this video installation. In this video Twist exhibits images of a condor that he says has a connection with his Cherokee heritage. The Condors are shown to symbolize the issues of artifice that we face in a daily basis in life. These condors carry a tracking device that was implanted in order to keep track of them to capture natural photos of them.
P'oe iwe naví ûnp'oe dînmuu (My Blood is in the Water) – 2010
This piece of art is a mixed-media installation that comprises a sculpture and a sound element. The sculpture shown is a deceased mule deer hanging as its blood drips down to a pueblo drum placed right beneath it. The metaphor being shown in this piece is an evaluation of the process of how indigenous people manage to put food on the table.

Publications