Fighting back through portraiture: Greenfield exhibit raises awareness about violence against Indigenous women

Centered is “Littlefox in RED,” by artist and activist Nayana LaFond.

Centered is “Littlefox in RED,” by artist and activist Nayana LaFond. FOR THE RECORDER/LUKE MACANNUCO

“Jaylin in RED” by artist and activist Nayana LaFond.

“Jaylin in RED” by artist and activist Nayana LaFond. FOR THE RECORDER/LUKE MACANNUCO

A wall of Nayana LaFond’s portraits at The LAVA Center in Greenfield.

A wall of Nayana LaFond’s portraits at The LAVA Center in Greenfield. FOR THE RECORDER/LUKE MACANNUCO

A wall of Nayana LaFond’s portraits at The LAVA Center in Greenfield.

A wall of Nayana LaFond’s portraits at The LAVA Center in Greenfield. FOR THE RECORDER/LUKE MACANNUCO

By LUKE MACANNUCO

For the Recorder

Published: 07-07-2025 12:05 PM

The painted gaze of Littlefox, a Native American woman from Minneapolis, follows viewers who enter The LAVA Center to view the arts venue’s current exhibit, “Portraits in RED: Missing and Murdered Indigenous People” by artist and activist Nayana LaFond.

Littlefox’s portrait is just one of 19 in the exhibit, which opened at 324 Main St. in Greenfield on May 2 and will continue through the end of July. The 19 portraits are a fraction of LaFond’s series, which looks to highlight the widespread yet overlooked violence that Native Americans face, particularly women and girls. A 2016 National Institute of Justice study found that 84.3% of Native American women experience violence in their lifetime.

LaFond’s portraits are mostly black and white, with red being the only other color included, often in the form of a handprint.

“The red hand represents being silenced,” LaFond said. “It represents the blood of our people, but it also represents resilience and fighting back.”

LaFond, who grew up in western Massachusetts and is a citizen of the Mètis Nation of Ontario, got the idea for the portraits during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was May 5, 2020 — which is the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls — when LaFond was scrolling through a Facebook group called “Social Distance Powwow,” which is in part dedicated to the sharing of Native American culture through art. LaFond decided to paint a portrait of a member of the group whose selfie she saw.

“I painted it, shared it with the group and got a lot of reactions, over 2,000 overnight,” LaFond recounted.

After the first painting, LaFond decided to do another, which garnered twice as many reactions. Being isolated at home with plenty of canvases and acrylic paints, LaFond decided to keep the portraits going, advertising on the Facebook page that she would paint anyone who has been affected by the epidemic of violence against Indigenous people.

“I got 25 [requests] in the first day,” LaFond said. “So at that moment, I went, ‘Oh, I guess I should paint all of these, because I don’t feel right about picking and choosing.’ Because these are people with stories and lives.”

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Some of the portraits depict victims of violence or family members of victims. LaFond has been winding down the series over the last year and a half, and is in the process of returning the portraits to their subject or subject’s family after her current run of shows is done.

“If the family wants it, it’s theirs, and I’ll find a way to get it to them,” LaFond said. “And if they don’t, if they’re uncomfortable with having it in their home, they can sell it and keep the money or donate the money. It’s up to them.”

Matthew Barlow, The LAVA Center’s humanities coordinator, is responsible for the curation of LaFond’s work at the center. Barlow’s position, which is funded by Mass Humanities, is coming to a close this summer, making LaFond’s exhibit one of Barlow’s final projects for the venue.

When Barlow first saw LaFond’s work, he said, he was overwhelmed.

“These portraits kind of blew me away,” Barlow said. “I just felt physically affected.”

Barlow’s hope is that the exhibit raises awareness of the plight of Native American people.

“I’ve watched people walk in and they can’t look away,” Barlow said. “They come timidly, or they march right up, or they carefully go through every story. But people are really noticing it. I’ve had a lot of conversations with people about it.”

For LaFond, the hope is that viewers are “reading [the subject’s] story, looking at them as if they’re looking at a person, not a painting, because that’s the point.”

The LAVA Center is open Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 5 to 8 p.m., Fridays from 5 to 8 p.m. and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.