"People who enter the Oklahoma state capital building from the southern entrance pass a large statue of a Native American woman that is titled “As Long as the Waters Flow.” In front of the Oklahoma History Center southeast of the Capital building stands a bronze sculpture of an Indian warrior that is titled “The Unconquered.”

The inscriptions on both works indicate that they were created by Allan Houser, who is identified as a Chiricahua Apache. His work also graced Oklahoma license plates in the recreation of his painting “Sacred Rain Arrow.” Earlier this year the work of Allan Houser, who passed away in 1994, was featured in an exhibit at the Oklahoma History Center.

The full story of Houser’s life and work is told in the documentary film, “Unconquered: Allen Houser and the Legacy of One Apache Family,” which was made by Oklahoma City native and New York University film school graduate Bryan Beasley.

Narrated by actor Val Kilmer and told primarily through interviews with surviving family members in Oklahoma and Santa Fe, N.M., the film documents how the artist’s father, Sam Haozous, who was a member of the Chiricahua Apache tribe, spent his early years roaming what is now New Mexico and Arizona. His uncle was the warrior Geronimo."

Get the Story:
William F. O'Brien: Documentary brings Oklahoman’s works to life (The Edmond Sun 6/23)