Vicki Meek has exhibited widely and is in the permanent collections of the African American Museum Dallas, Fort Wayne Museum of Art, and Museum of Fine Arts Houston. She was awarded three public arts commissions with Dallas Area Rapid Transit Art Program, private commissions with Nasher Sculpture Center, and was co-artist on the largest public art project in Dallas, the Dallas Convention Center Public Art Project. Vicki Meek resides in Dallas TX where she is also an independent curator and writes cultural criticism.
My print entitled "America Cares More About Parks than MMIW" illustrates the 2016 census numbers on the reported missing or murdered indigenous women and the states with the largest unsolved reported cases. The fact that this number reflects statistics from nearly 5 years ago means the total is likely much higher, especially since it's also a fact that many of the women missing never make the police caseload. My print uses maps of these states and their national parks as a metaphor for how America values the health and welfare of its parks but cannot muster the same level of concern for indigenous women. The 5,712 figure exceeds by nearly double the number of lives lost in the 9/11 attack, an event that most Americans will never forget and one that our government uses as a reminder harm was done to us as a nation. Yet the plight of our indigenous women who suffer, in disproportionate numbers, the fate of being murdered doesn't raise an alarm for either our government or the average American. As a woman, especially as a Black woman, I understand being cast aside and think all of us women should be willing to stand up and demand that more be done to address this crisis. A mere bandaid approach to this problem will only result in a continued blood bath in the Native American community.
Artist: Vicki Meek
Date: 2021
Medium: Screen Print
Collection: Fine Art
Copyright Status: In Copyright
Credit: Gift of Catherine Prose
Accession Number: 2022.0003.0001 E