Honoring the lost: Portraits in Red

LaFond hopes the paintings will help heal those left behind. “Perhaps it will help someone still suffering gain the courage to get help,” she said.

LaFond, who lives in Athol, Massachusetts, will be at the Heritage Center later this month for two events — a panel discussion at 6 p.m. March 23, and a painting demonstration at 1 p.m. March 25. The exhibit continues through May 7.

Lincoln County Historical Society executive director Susan Tissot said the Heritage Center exhibit “is about bringing awareness and healing to the communities it visits.” She noted that paintings of four Confederated Tribes of Siletz members are part of the exhibit.

“I want to paint them the way the spirits would see them,” LaFond said of the portraits, explaining that all the paintings are of missing or murdered indigenous people or activists committed to increasing awareness and honoring those lost.

LaFond said she intended to make a painting as a catharsis and tribute to a domestic violence survivor and her own matrilineal line. The response to the painting, however, was so strong that she painted another one in May 2020, when she was in COVID quarantine and looking for something to occupy her time.

When she received an even greater response to her second painting, she let people know that if they sent her their images and comments about the lost or murdered, she would paint them free to raise awareness. The first day she received 25 responses with images and stories. And she realized she needed to paint all of them.

She works on donated canvases and with donated paint — and she provides unlimited prints to the families while exhibiting the originals to raise awareness of what is happening across North America.

LaFond explained the use of color in the collection — all black and white except for red as the only visible color. That’s because spirits are believed to see only red, she said.

Tissot said she learned about LaFond on the internet and contacted her about her work. When she heard that an exhibit of LaFond’s portraits had never been held on the West Coast, she invited her to show her work at the Heritage Center, which is managed by the Lincoln County Historical Society. That led to the current exhibit, as well as ones planned for several other West Coast museums later this year.

“We want to be relevant and accessible, and we try to provide as much information as we can to the community,” Tissot said. In that vein, a journal is included in the exhibit, with visitors invited to write their thoughts.

“We also have hung a banner on the wall with red ribbons for people to write their feelings,” she said. The exhibit opened and will close with a blessing, prayer and smudge from Siletz tribal members.

“Nayana’s work is very powerful,” Tissot said. “People across North America are not really aware of what is happening, and these paintings make it more relevant to the community at large. She’s a tremendous painter.”