For over twenty-years, artist and activist Charlene Teters has created multi-dimensional artworks that interrogate the portrayal of Native Americans in American media and popular culture. At the core of her practice is an interest in asserting the presence and agency of Native Americans as contemporary and multi-dimensional people, countering the stereotypical representations active in various American mythologies. 

The film In Whose Honor? by Jay Rosenstein documents the controversy around Teters’ work as a graduate student to mobilize protests against the University of Illinois’s use of “Chief Illiniwek” as a mascot, a symbol which she viewed as derogatory toward Native Americans. The use of “Chief Illiniwek” was discontinued by the University in 2006. Presenting the views of both supporters and opponents of the mascot, the film reveals the complex and highly fraught nature of the controversy. In its presentation of footage from these protests, the film highlights the important use of visual art strategies to create more effective political and social interventions.