The Trickster Showdown

In Native American storytelling, tricksters are often portrayed as anthropomorphized rabbits, coyotes, or crows. Tricksters are the tales’ protagonists, possessing supernatural powers but representing paradox—their chief characteristic is ambiguity. As shape-shifters (beings who morph from human to animal or other forms), they may be both wise and foolish, cultural heroes and mischievous pranksters, mythical creators and reckless destroyers. In The Trickster Showdown, Julie Buffalohead portrays a lighthearted face-off between two tricksters of perhaps equal powers: a skirted rabbit holding a star-tipped wand and a coyote wearing a pastel-colored tutu. Using white ink on a dark blue ground, Buffalohead depicts her tricksters as ethereal beings set in an indeterminate space, each figure rendered with a naturalistic exactness that reveals her deep understanding of animal anatomy. For Buffalohead, “[the trickster] represents what it means to actually be a human being and to have all these feelings and emotions and contradiction within yourself.”