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A new Native American Iconography.
The first Native-owned skateboard company is championing young concrete warriors, translating an ancient heritage onto the silk-screened deck of a skateboard.
"Douglas Miles channeled his teenage penchant for graffiti into a successful career in fine art, creating provocative, graphic spray-painted stencils that meld pop culture images from The Godfather andApocalypse Now with gun-toting Apache warriors."
"But it wasn't until his son took up skateboarding at age 11 that Miles got back to the boards of his youth, necessity becoming the unexpected mother of Apache Skateboards."
"I could not afford the full-color name-brand skateboard that my son wanted at the mall," Miles says.
"Indian people for centuries have made a world out of the things around them — pots out of clay, bows out of reeds. I don't want to get all anthropological, but I found a way to work with the tools and resources I had."
His first design was a simple anime- inspired image of an Apache warrior on the skateboard deck. Not only did his son love the board and ride it around San Carlos until it broke, but he came home and informed his dad, "Everyone wants one."
Miles realized he couldn't hand-paint a skateboard for all of the teenagers in San Carlos, so he saved up money from the sale of his artwork and found a company in California to print the first 100 skateboards.
That was in 2003. Now, in addition to the silk-screened decks, Miles creates handpainted skateboards that are part of the permanent collections of the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art in Indianapolis, the Montclair Art Museum in New Jersey, the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, and the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.
Miles sees his deck designs, and the team, as an opportunity to share cultures — both the tribal culture of the Apache and the tribal culture of skateboarding. "Surfing was created by native Hawaiians," Miles says, "and was brought to the mainland in the '30s. Surfers and skateboarders inherently are very tribal about the way they do their thing. As tribal people, as Apache, we understand that, and it is a perfect fit."
As members of the fringe, skateboarders — like punk and hip-hop artists — have created their own language, attire, movement, sound, and art, which are often viewed as primitive, or unsophisticated, or unworthy of appreciation by members of the cultural mainstream.
Even Native art, which is lauded when it meets historic artistic standards, is often devalued when it takes a less traditional approach. Miles thinks that it's time to recognize the aesthetic power of a new kind of tribal art, one that exceeds all limitations.
"Our idea is to get skaters far and wide to come and skate and have a good time," Ringlero says. "Hopefully every kid can go home with a prize. A couple of major companies in the valley have made donations, and that's how we get skaters far and wide, not just Native skaters, to see what the reservation has to offer and what talent we have."
His skaters are all about forging a modern tribal identity. "When I first tell people about Apache Skateboards," Benally says, "they superimpose an image of us just being Native, but we're not concerned about sticking to what's Native, or sticking to anything that will limit ourselves.
My generation has to deal with a certain identity crisis, about how to break the mold without breaking our traditions, how to balance my ancestral blood while progressing with the rest of the people in this world. It's a hard thing to do, but through Apache Skateboards I'm able to uphold my background and not forget who I am"she says.
Benally and Ringlero can be found behind the lens, and riding the ramp, at the team's big annual event — the Apache Skate Blast — held every spring at the San Carlos Skate Park. Miles' mom cooks fry bread and beans for the sponsors, and the team hosts a punk rock concert for the participants.
"Our idea is to get skaters far and wide to come and skate and have a good time," Ringlero says. "Hopefully every kid can go home with a prize. A couple of major companies in the valley have made donations, and that's how we get skaters far and wide, not just Native skaters, to see what the reservation has to offer and what talent we have."
They hope to foster the talents of other kids by example. "We're not your stereotypical Indians," Benally says. "We're not your stereotypical kids in general. We're all different, and we're using those differences to create inspiration and influence for other people who may not know they have options. When we travel to different reservations, the kids may be able to draw well, to paint; they may be into graffiti.
But in the society they live in, those talents go unnoticed. When we come to those places, we let them know that those talents are worth something. Because we all have those same talents, and we're doing something with them."
"Apache Skateboards is unique," she says, "because we are combining diverse backgrounds, talents, and different means of expression into one embodiment. We are all, to some extent, artists and poets. We all skate, we all care about progressing ourselves and each other. We push each other to skate better, to make better films, to live better, to live more interesting lives. You're not going to find another team like us."
Miles himself can't contain his enthusiasm for his team. "I can't express how proud I am of them, but it is very nerve- wracking because they are still kids. It's like herding cats. But I wouldn't take anything for it, because they are artists in their own right. And they inspire me to no end. They are Apache Skateboards."
But he has concerns, too. About recognition and acceptance of new Native art forms. About ensuring that Native Americans are able to own their new imagery, without being culturally hijacked. About tribal concerns for legal liability standing in the way of building new skate parks. But people are taking notice, and skate parks are getting built.
"I think a lot of what we do will impact how Native Americans are going to be viewed in the 21st century," Miles says. "People are going to say 'Wow.' It is about a new Native American iconography, a totally different way of looking at Native American youth in the 21st century."
Photos by Brendan Moore www.brendanmoorephoto.com.
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