The U.S. Postal Service recently unveiled four special Forever Stamps celebrating Indian Country’s vibrant culture of powwows — traditional gatherings marked by singing, dancing and wearing colorful regalia.
The world’s largest powwow — the Gathering of Nations held annually in Albuquerque — is where this new collection was released back in April. Four designs each honor a different dance style: Traditional, Fancy Shawl, Crow Hop and Hoop.
These tiny pieces of postage are, in part, brought to life by Tony Duncan, his wife, Violet, and their eldest child, Manaya — members of a famed Phoenix family you might’ve seen performing around the Valley. Mateo Romero is the New Mexico-based painter behind handpicking the Duncan family.
Mateo Romero on why he chose the Duncan family
MATEO ROMERO: Hi, my name is Mateo Romero.
I’m a tribal member from Cochiti Pueblo. I’m a contemporary Southwestern painter, and I’ve worked on the USPS Forever Sheet Stamp, the powwow series with the Duncan family and with KamiJo Whiteclay.
I don’t know of a way where an artist could sort of catch the attention of USPS. It just happened organically. And I was very flattered. I was very honored to do it.
"It’s actually not easy to take a painting and translate it into a stamp.
I did four paintings for USPS, which I think were like 24 by 30 inches, and then to make it into something the size of your thumb, that’s actually a little tricky, because it has to really carry color.
But I think they did a really good job.
I mean, I think the colors are clear and the shadows are nice and the faces pop out. It seems to work. You know, I was actually surprised at how well they did it. Yeah, I got shocked at how well it came out.
That’s really what I was trying to do, was capture the sort of visual analog of what it might be if you were at a powwow and you’re looking at dancers, and you could hear the sound of the drum behind you. And so I think they move in that direction where they’re beginning to resonate like that — sort of give people maybe some visual cues of what it might be to actually be there.
I did my best. I tried to bring in the best people and the best energy I could kind of make it come alive.
The Duncans can do it, so when I had the opportunity to work with that family, I think it was actually at one of the Heard Indian markets. And then after the market, they basically just did an impromptu photographic shoot there in the courtyard at the Heard Museum.
And they were very interested in the project, too.
As an artist, we’re looking for models that have qualities that evoke feelings that we’re trying to convey. And this family, to me, really captured the spirit of what I was going for.
The parents had a pedigree, if you will, powwow champions, right? Tony’s just this extraordinary dancer and performer, a world champ. His wife, Violet, is a former Miss Indian World, so she’s very regaled in her own right, very remarkable.
It’s really their story. You know, that’s the cool part about it. I mean, I’m the painter, and I’ve created this message, and I’ve put it out there. People seem to like it, but the story really is their story, right?
It’s their family and their energy. They actually, in this respect, have become the face of powwow for this moment to the world. They’re the face of the Forever Stamp, and their story is being used in a good way to show the larger story of the powwow.
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