NOAH KEMOHAH

Description of Art

I use bones, earth, and reclaimed fences from the Osage Reservation to represent our history, sovereignty, and property rights.

Artist Biography

My family is mostly from the Hominy area. My great, great grandfather - Kemohah - my great, great, grandmother - Lo-tah-sah - and my great grandfather - Thomas Kemohah - were original allottees. My Grandmother - Geraldean Kemohah - and her twin sister - Jean Kemohah - used to tell me that their grandmother - Lo-tah-sah - lived in a tepee her entire life and never donned an item of Western clothing. We have remained stewards of our land since the 1906 Allotment. My Osage grandparents and my Potawatomi great grandmother, who helped to raise me, were greatly affected by the boarding schools and Western pressures to assimilate. I have an art degree from the Kansas City Art Institute. I expect to have my juris doctorate from the University of Tulsa, with an emphasis on Federal Indian Law, in 2023. My studies in law and my contemporary Indian sculptures have overlapping themes. I use bones, earth, and reclaimed fences from the Osage Reservation to represent our history, sovereignty, and property rights. The idea of fencing off property is a basic element of European conquest. The Osage Nation has historically opposed assimilation and the agrarian lifestyle. The Osage Reservation was chosen for it's rocky, oil-filled soil, because it is difficult to farm. We are a warrior tribe that has chosen our destiny through the control of our resources and conquest of industry. As an attorney, I hope to help the Osage Nation continue to diversify our influence in various industries (such as banking) and protect the Mineral Estate. As an Artist, I hope to represent the strength of our people in my artistic expressions.