COLONIZED INDIAN a face rewritten, this reinterpretation of the infamous Cleveland Indians logo features a grinning figure with pressed curls, a red ribbon and small grey feathers—elements that capture the contradictions of forced assimilation and modern identity expression. The COLONIZED INDIAN represents the result of centuries of cultural suppression. Where feathers, beads and sacred regalia once adorned Indigenous people, European styles and Christianized customs were imposed through brutal systems of control—boarding schools, missionary campaigns and assimilation acts. What you see in this image is the residue of resistance and survival. The hairstyle speaks to conformity. The gold teeth and exaggerated smile hint at an identity reconstructed in the image of capitalist appeal and pop culture parody. This is the Indian after 400 years of forced erasure—still Indigenous, but wrapped in the aesthetics of colonization. Yet, behind the mask is revival. Despite the forced tongue of English and the mimicry of Western style, Indigenous communities across the continent are RMBR-ing. They’re reclaiming language, regalia, kinship systems and stories once thought lost. This image doesn’t mock, it reminds. The COLONIZED INDIAN is not just a symbol of what was taken—but of what’s being taken back.

🔑 PRODUCT FEATURES:

• Matte Canvas, Stretched, 0.75″
• Back hanging included
• Soft rubber dots on bottom back corners for support
• Frame made with radial pine sourced from renewable forests
• Cotton and polyester canvas composite with a special proprietary coating