Handheld Tropes features Juanita Toledo (Jemez Pueblo, African American, Afro-Indigenous) standing in traditional Jemez regalia while balancing two enduring symbols of American advertising: Aunt Jemima and Land O’Lakes. Both brands have long relied on racialized imagery to market products, reducing complex cultures and identities into simplified stereotypes. By literally placing these symbols in Juanita’s hands, the work examines the burden of representation and the expectations imposed on Indigenous and Black bodies in everyday life.
The painting contrasts these commercialized images with Juanita’s lived reality. Beyond the stereotypes, she is a Native youth advocate, fashion model, and community leader whose work uplifts Indigenous visibility and self-determination. Her presence challenges the static and romanticized portrayals often found in popular culture, asserting a contemporary identity grounded in culture, agency, and resilience.
The work also references broader issues of food systems and representation. The brands depicted are familiar fixtures within American consumer culture, yet they carry histories tied to racial caricature and the commodification of identity.
Through Juanita’s image, Handheld Tropes asks viewers to consider who creates these narratives, how these images distort Indigenous identities, and how Indigenous people continue to reclaim the power to define themselves on their own terms.
