Meet Gregg Deal | Artist and disrupter

We had the good fortune of connecting with Gregg Deal and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Gregg, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
Risk has always been apparent in my life, if not my own work. Moving outside of popular culture, as an Indigenous person, always puts me at risk professionally. Things have gotten better, for sure, but I wouldn’t be where I am if I had not made some significant calculated risks. Having made my bones as an artist in Washington DC, I was asked to make my work “less Indian”. Not making that compromise has not only set the tone for the consistency and integrity of my work, but has established a standard that BIPOC often need to create in order to make work that is unapologetically true to ones self. From a western concept, Indigenous people are often beholden to the perception of our existence, and by extension, what my work should or should not look like. The risk is in creating something that does not fit in the familiarity of our perceived existence in an effort to be able to tell our own stories, and to establish value in those stories beyond the Western gaze and perception. These are significant risks that have garnered incredible relationships as well as incredible criticism and even death threats. In all honesty, the truth of my own work, my existence and desire to disrupt the stereotypes and tropes that have come to define us in popular culture makes these discomforts worth it.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Jeez, what could I tell you about my work. I suppose first and foremost, I am a contemporary artist. I am also an Indigenous person who belongs to the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe in Nevada. I am very clearly influenced by my ethnic identity, but still regard myself as an Artist who is Indigenous. My mediums range significantly from paintings, to murals to performance art, graphic design, print work, installation and site specific art, filmmaking, spoken word and beyond. The freedom of using so many different mediums has allowed me to explore the ways different mediums facilitate self expression, but also my ability to find intersections of these mediums.

Professionally I got here the way many people get here, with hard work. It certainly wasn’t easy. My wife and kids and I took the plunge coming out of the 2008 recession financially devastated, leaving me to do little more than rely on my talents and abilities to get enough money to keep us afloat. As I worked through the economy with my work, I pushed and worked around the clock trying to not only figure out what I needed to do, but also provide for my family. I can see true change coming about in 2013 with my first performance piece making it’s mark nationally, and the trajectory of my work has been going up since then!

I have found that trust is a major factor to my work. Trusting the process, trusting myself, trusting my hard work, and maybe even having a little bit of faith in my efforts. I’m not one for clichés, but working hard has played a major effort in my work. I am often overwhelmed by what I went through to get to this point, but also know that this road has been important for me to grow as an artist, as a human, husband and father and hopefully beyond. Truth is a center point to my work, honesty drives the narratives successfully, but taking changes to do new things, find new ways to push buttons, disrupt and move forward is key.

I am fortunate in being a contemporary Native artist in a place where this idea has not been defined rigidly. As arguably one of the most marginalized people in the US, this has played to our advantage as Indigenous artists find ground to tell our own stories, define our own spaces, and stand unapologetically on our homelands to make work that reflects our desire for positive change, our experiences as Indigenous people in America having an American experience, and flipping the narrative of our existence that has been in place for hundreds of years.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
There are people who got me here through support and love like my wife Megan Deal who has been with me for 22+ years, has supported, upheld, sustained and inspired me in all things. The late James Luna, a renowned Indigenous performance artist, mentor and friend who opened my eyes to the possibilities of art from Indigenous eyes. Lastly, organizations like Illuminative, who works very specifically on representation and equity for Indigenous people in media and more specifically for children, and the activist organization NDN Collective, who don’t just work in activist areas, but work to support and uphold Indigenous people, businesses, artists and beyond.

Website: greggdeal.com

Instagram: @greggdeal

Twitter: @greggdeal