Juror talk: "Contemporary Indigeneity 2024"

Great Plains Art Museum Author

09/10/2024 Added

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The “Contemporary Indigeneity 2024” jurors and Ashley Wilkinson, Director & Curator of the Great Plains Art Museum, discuss the exhibition and Indigenous art. Jurors include: Mary V. Bordeaux (Sicangu Oglala Lakota), Chelsea M. Herr (Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma), and Tarah Hogue (Métis).

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[00:00:00.000]Ashley Wilkinson: Hi, everyone. Thank you for coming out here tonight. Welcome to the Great Plains Art Museum at the Center for Great Plains Studies.
[00:00:13.440]I'm Ashley Wilkinson. I am of settler descent and I am the director and curator of the Great Plains Art Museum.
[00:00:20.080]Thank you for joining us tonight for our discussion about the 2024 Contemporary Indigeneity Exhibition.
[00:00:26.600]I'd like to begin by acknowledging that the University of Nebraska is a land-grant institution
[00:00:31.840]with campuses and programs on the past, present, and future homelands of the Pawnee, Ponca,
[00:00:38.620]Otoe, Missouri, Omaha, Dakota, Lakota, Kaw, Cheyenne, and Arapaho peoples,
[00:00:45.080]as well as those of the relocated Ho-Chunk, Sac and Fox, and Iowa peoples.
[00:00:50.720]The land we currently call Nebraska has always been and will continue to be an Indigenous homeland.
[00:00:56.600]Please take a moment to consider the legacies of more than 150 years of displacement,
[00:01:02.540]violence, settlement, and survival that bring us here today.
[00:01:10.380]This acknowledgement and the centering of Indigenous peoples is a start as we move forward together.
[00:01:17.380]So before we begin with tonight's event, I want to say a few quick thank yous first to all of the artists
[00:01:24.700]whose work is on view here today.
[00:01:26.600]And I know some of them are actually here tonight.
[00:01:29.600]We're so grateful that you've allowed us to share your work here at the museum.
[00:01:33.600]And we're really looking forward to having it on view here for the next few months.
[00:01:37.620]I'd also like to thank the staff at the Center and Museum who helped with every aspect of this project,
[00:01:42.620]from designing the catalog to coordinating events.
[00:01:46.620]And special thanks to Museum Collections Manager Casey Seeger, who I think is outside the doors.
[00:01:51.620]Maybe he's here.
[00:01:52.620]Who was responsible for coordinating the shipping of all of the artwork.
[00:01:56.600]So, all of these works of art to Lincoln, which is no small feat.
[00:01:59.600]So, thank you, Casey.
[00:02:01.600]And then, this exhibition is part of the project "Walking in the Footsteps of Our Ancestors: Reindigenizing Southeast Nebraska,"
[00:02:08.620]which is funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
[00:02:11.620]This project is a three-year joint project of the Center for Great Plains Studies and the Otoe Missouri Tribe of Oklahoma.
[00:02:18.620]And it aims to promote healing and reconciliation in Southeast Nebraska
[00:02:23.620]by reconnecting the Otoe Missouri to their homeland,
[00:02:26.600]and educating non-Native people about the history and ongoing presence of the tribe and other Indigenous peoples in our region.
[00:02:33.600]So we're incredibly grateful to the Mellon Foundation for their generous support of this project and this exhibition.
[00:02:39.620]I'd also like to thank Union Bank and Trust for sponsoring this exhibition.
[00:02:44.620]Contemporary Indigeneity, this is the fifth juried exhibition of Native art organized by the Center and the Museum.
[00:02:53.620]For this show, Native artists were invited to submit
[00:02:56.600]work that addressed any issues or themes relevant to the contemporary Indigenous experience on the Great Plains.
[00:03:02.600]The goal was to highlight the current Native American artistic practice and the diverse media and content explored by these artists.
[00:03:10.620]We had 74 artists submit this year, and in this exhibition you'll see the work of 26 of those artists who come from across the Great Plains.
[00:03:19.620]The submissions were reviewed by a panel of jurors who were selected to participate in this project because of their knowledge of Native art
[00:03:26.600]within and outside of a museum context, and for their work with and connections to Indigenous communities.
[00:03:33.600]So please join me in thanking our jurors for their time and effort on this project and for being here today.
[00:03:39.600]I have a few questions to prompt our discussion, and then we're also going to have time for audience questions as well at the end.
[00:03:50.600]But I'm going to start by briefly introducing our panelists, and then I'll have each of them introduce themselves.
[00:03:56.600]And I'm going to go out of order by how you're sitting, because that's how it's written on my paper.
[00:04:00.600]I just decided that's what I'm going to do.
[00:04:02.600]So we'll start with Mary.
[00:04:04.600]Mary Bordo is Siichangu Oglala Lakota, and received her B.A. from the Institute of American Indian Arts,
[00:04:11.600]and her M.F.A. from the University of the Arts, both in museum studies, with an emphasis on exhibition design and planning.
[00:04:19.600]She recently completed her educational doctorate at St. Mary's University, researching Lakota epistemology.
[00:04:26.600]Bordeaux has held curatorial positions with the Heritage Center at Red Cloud Indian School
[00:04:31.600]and the Indian Museum of North America at Crazy Horse Memorial,
[00:04:35.600]where she led extensive revamping of collections, exhibitions, and other aspects of the organizations.
[00:04:41.600]She co-curated a Native art exhibition in Venice, Italy during the Biennale,
[00:04:46.600]and has served on the organizing committee of Native Pop, People of the Plains,
[00:04:50.600]the sculpture committee at Main Street Square in Rapid City, and in a governor-appointed position
[00:04:56.600]on the board of directors of the South Dakota Arts Council.
[00:04:59.600]Mary, I invite you to introduce yourself to our audience.
[00:05:03.600]Thank you. Is this on? Yeah.
[00:05:06.600]No? No. It's on now.
[00:05:10.600]Closer? Yeah.
[00:05:14.600]I'm Mary Bordeaux, and I also just thank you for being here.
[00:05:19.600]Thank you, Ashley, for inviting me to participate as a juror.
[00:05:23.600]I really appreciate it. And to all the artists, all the artists
[00:05:26.600]who submitted works, I know it takes a lot to put your work out
[00:05:30.600]there to be juried, and it was a really hard process, but Chelsea
[00:05:36.600]and Tara made it so much better. And I also just wanted to say I'm
[00:05:43.600]the co-founder and co-director of Racing Magpie in Rapid City,
[00:05:47.600]South Dakota, a Native gallery and artist space that focuses on
[00:05:54.600]community work.
[00:05:56.600]And then I also am an assistant professor at the Black Hills State
[00:06:00.600]University in the American Indian Studies program.
[00:06:03.600]Thank you, Mary.
[00:06:05.600]Thanks.
[00:06:06.600]All right.
[00:06:08.600]Chelsea, we'll move on to you.
[00:06:10.600]Chelsea Herr is a citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and is
[00:06:14.600]the inaugural Jack and Maxine Zero Curator for Indigenous Art and
[00:06:18.600]Culture at Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
[00:06:21.600]Her work at Gilcrease is focused on advocacy, inclusion, and
[00:06:26.600]representation of Indigenous peoples and cultures in museum
[00:06:29.600]spaces.
[00:06:30.600]She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Art History from Seattle Pacific
[00:06:33.600]University and a Master of Arts in Art History with an emphasis on
[00:06:37.600]Native Studies from the University of California, Riverside.
[00:06:40.600]In 2020, she earned a Doctorate in Native American Art History from
[00:06:45.600]the University of Oklahoma, writing a dissertation on Indigenous
[00:06:48.600]Futurisms and the work of Native North American artists.
[00:06:52.600]She recently guest curated "Passed Forward: Indigenous Art from
[00:06:56.600]the Indigenous Museum" with co-curator Janet Berlow, which is
[00:06:59.600]traveling across the country through 2025.
[00:07:02.600]Chelsea, please introduce yourself.
[00:07:05.600]Is this one working?
[00:07:07.600]Okay.
[00:07:09.600]Chelsea.
[00:07:13.600]Hello, I am Chelsea.
[00:07:15.600]I am Choctaw from Oklahoma.
[00:07:18.600]My family is the Southern and Durant families from
[00:07:22.600]Southeastern Oklahoma near Tushkahoma, which is where our
[00:07:26.600]capital originally was for the Choctaw Nation after we were
[00:07:29.600]removed from Mississippi from our homelands to Indian
[00:07:32.600]Territory starting in 1830.
[00:07:35.600]But I did not grow up there.
[00:07:37.600]I grew up in the L.A. area, Riverside County of Southern
[00:07:40.600]California, and ended up kind of migrating back this way to the
[00:07:47.600]Southern Plains kind of in the opposite pattern that my
[00:07:50.600]grandmother had done when she moved to California in the '40s,
[00:07:54.600]in the 1940s.
[00:07:56.600]So I'm definitely a transplant to the Plains, but grew up
[00:08:00.600]spending my summers here.
[00:08:03.600]So it's a second home to me and now my permanent home.
[00:08:06.600]So I'm very honored to be part of this panel for many reasons.
[00:08:11.600]But in particular, I, as much as possible, really try to
[00:08:15.600]encourage both emerging and established artists to submit
[00:08:20.600]their work to shows like this, whether or not they think it
[00:08:26.600]is something they're working on or might help get their name out
[00:08:29.600]there.
[00:08:30.600]Shows like this are the reason why the native art field keeps
[00:08:33.600]moving forward.
[00:08:35.600]Yes, there are large exhibitions at big institutions that get a
[00:08:39.600]lot of publicity and huge catalogs, and those are amazing
[00:08:42.600]and should absolutely be credited for that work.
[00:08:46.600]But it's also the work of individual artists who submit to
[00:08:49.600]shows like this that really make our field so dynamic and so
[00:08:52.600]powerful.
[00:08:53.600]So thank you for having me.
[00:08:56.600]Thank you.
[00:08:59.600]And Tara Hogue is a Métis and white settler, curator, writer
[00:09:06.600]and cultural worker living in Treaty 6 and 7 territories and
[00:09:11.600]the Métis homeland in Canada.
[00:09:13.600]Raised in central Alberta, she is a citizen of the Métis
[00:09:16.600]nation of Alberta with relatives from the Red River communities
[00:09:20.600]of St. Charles and St. Francois Xavier in Manitoba.
[00:09:26.600]In 1926, she became the inaugural curator of indigenous
[00:09:30.600]art at Rémy Modern in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
[00:09:33.600]And in 2024, she transitioned to adjunct curator.
[00:09:36.600]In attending to histories of place, movement, and indigeneity,
[00:09:40.600]Hoag ceased to understand and amplify self-determination from
[00:09:44.600]prairie and global indigenous perspectives.
[00:09:47.600]Her work prioritizes the ongoing process of cultural conciliation
[00:09:51.600]and the imperative to create more equitable and welcoming arts
[00:09:54.600]institutions.
[00:09:56.600]She has worked closely and collectively within, across,
[00:09:59.600]and outside of institutions to effect systematic change.
[00:10:03.600]She is grateful to all those who came before and who walk
[00:10:05.600]alongside her in these efforts.
[00:10:07.600]Tara, please introduce yourself.
[00:10:09.600].
[00:10:34.600]Hello, everyone.
[00:10:35.600]It's very good to see you all.
[00:10:39.600]I'm super happy to be here.
[00:10:41.600]I came to Lincoln and to the Great Plains Art Museum for the
[00:10:45.600]first time last April as part of a month-long research road trip
[00:10:51.600]where my husband and I drove from Saskatoon to Houston and back.
[00:10:58.600]And so I'm just super excited and grateful for the opportunity to
[00:11:05.600]return and to learn more about the work that we're
[00:11:09.600]doing and to learn about all of these artist practices.
[00:11:15.600]And, you know, particularly in light of some of the work that
[00:11:20.600]the museum where I work is doing that is focused on building and
[00:11:26.600]strengthening relationships across the medicine line, it's
[00:11:30.600]just been a real privilege to be introduced to the artist
[00:11:35.600]practices through this process.
[00:11:39.600]And I'm excited to build and strengthen relationships with my
[00:11:43.600]fellow jurors and with the museum here.
[00:11:46.600]So looking forward to the conversation and to meeting some
[00:11:51.600]of you afterwards also.
[00:11:53.600]Marcie.
[00:11:54.600]Thank you.
[00:11:55.600]Thanks to all of you.
[00:11:57.600]So I'll just start out by asking, and if each one of you
[00:12:03.600]wants to answer, you can have a conversation, however you feel
[00:12:08.600]most comfortable.
[00:12:09.600]Did any of the themes or subjects represented in the work
[00:12:12.600]selected for this exhibition stand out to you or particularly
[00:12:16.600]resonate with you when you were reviewing the submissions?
[00:12:19.600]I'll go.
[00:12:24.600]Yes, quite a few.
[00:12:26.600]But I've been thinking about this quite a bit over the last few
[00:12:30.600]weeks as, you know, preparing to come here and to actually see
[00:12:33.600]the artworks in person for the first time I think is, you know,
[00:12:36.600]we have been doing things virtually, right?
[00:12:39.600]Reviewing artworks virtually online, meeting through Zoom,
[00:12:43.600]so getting to be here in person has slightly shifted the way
[00:12:48.600]that I've been thinking about the themes and some of the
[00:12:51.600]subject matter in this exhibition.
[00:12:55.600]And what strikes me in quite a few of the works here are these
[00:13:01.600]pure celebratory moments of joy that come across in different
[00:13:09.600]media, and I think that in the time and the place, the United
[00:13:14.600]States that we are right now, sometimes it's difficult to find
[00:13:18.600]those kind of unadulterated moments of just pure joy, right,
[00:13:22.600]where it's uncomplicated, and it is what it is on the surface.
[00:13:27.600]And so seeing, I mean, some of these representations, for
[00:13:31.600]example, the close cropped photo of a powwow dancer, right, that
[00:13:36.600]is just an explosion of color and of motion, even though it's
[00:13:39.600]a static artwork.
[00:13:40.600]It's not physically moving, right?
[00:13:42.600]But you feel as though you're standing in the line of a grand
[00:13:45.600]entry at a powwow, and you're close together, and you're kind
[00:13:49.600]of huddled up dancing next to someone standing close behind
[00:13:52.600]this dancer.
[00:13:53.600]And to me, it's just this moment of celebration of community and
[00:13:57.600]of culture that is seen throughout a number of these works.
[00:14:00.600]That's not, you know, not the only one, but that one really
[00:14:04.600]strikes me as this kind of pure moment of happiness.
[00:14:09.600]I don't know how else to describe it.
[00:14:12.600]And it reminds me that our cultures and our communities
[00:14:16.600]have sustained us for so long that I think as long as we keep
[00:14:21.600]finding and focusing, when we can, on those moments of joy,
[00:14:25.600]not to say that we don't use art and conversations around art as a
[00:14:33.600]way to critique systems of power or as a way to, you know,
[00:14:39.600]shed light on systemic and institutional injustices,
[00:14:44.600]but that there can be these moments as well, right,
[00:14:47.600]that continue to sustain us.
[00:14:49.600]And by focusing on those, I think our communities and our
[00:14:51.600]cultures will continue to do that.
[00:14:54.600]And that powwow dancer, those were some of the first images
[00:14:58.600]that we looked at.
[00:15:00.600]So I totally agree with you, Chelsea.
[00:15:04.600]I think continuity and reclamation are words that came
[00:15:09.600]to mind when I was reflecting on the contributions of the
[00:15:14.600]exhibiting artists.
[00:15:17.600]You know, and the role that art plays in, as you say, ensuring
[00:15:25.600]that our communities are healthy and joyful and that we know our
[00:15:31.600]histories and that we are, as fellow Métis Kathy Mattis says,
[00:15:39.600]in this process of always returning our hearts home.
[00:15:43.600]And the way that many of the artists in the exhibition are
[00:15:49.600]working are, you know, looking at the rich cultures and
[00:15:56.600]traditions that we come from and continuing this very historical
[00:16:01.600]process of continual adaptation and translation so that we are
[00:16:09.600]making ourselves now in the contemporary moment and for the
[00:16:14.600]future.
[00:16:15.600]So I think that is also ultimately like a joyful sort of
[00:16:21.600]future-oriented place to be and mode of making and thinking even
[00:16:28.600]when, you know, some of the works in the exhibition are also
[00:16:33.600]speaking truth about historical injustice and oppression and
[00:16:39.600]displacement.
[00:16:42.600]We tell those hard stories so that we can move forward and
[00:16:47.600]continue to, you know, move towards justice and to better
[00:16:52.600]futures, I think.
[00:16:58.600]So I just agree with what they said.
[00:17:00.600]I'm just kidding.
[00:17:03.600]But, I mean, I do.
[00:17:04.600]I agree with what they said and, you know, I always think of
[00:17:09.600]Native art as on a continuum and that all the work that Native
[00:17:15.600]people have been doing or Native artists have been doing is always
[00:17:20.600]contemporary, it's always modern.
[00:17:23.600]We're always adapting to new materials and always telling our
[00:17:28.600]stories, but we're always grounded in who we are, who our community
[00:17:33.600]is, where we come from, and there's just this through line from
[00:17:39.600]historical practices to contemporary ones and continuing to document
[00:17:44.600]who we are and what we do.
[00:17:47.600]And so I don't know that there was necessarily a theme that I see
[00:17:52.600]other than that I see the continuum of Native art.
[00:17:57.600]And like I said, I just think we're always contemporary.
[00:18:00.600]We were contemporary when we started using beads and modern at that
[00:18:06.600]time, right?
[00:18:09.600]And we were modern when we were using smoke or doing AI digital work
[00:18:16.600]or I think the little piece with the video on it.
[00:18:21.600]I can't remember the artist's name.
[00:18:23.600]But the necklace with the little video on it.
[00:18:25.600]It's very grounded in who they are as an Indigenous -- a Native person.
[00:18:30.600]And so I just -- that's the theme I always see is the continuum of
[00:18:36.600]creativity with Native people.
[00:18:39.600]Yeah, thank you all for that.
[00:18:41.600]And it's interesting.
[00:18:42.600]Someone was asking me what stories these pieces tell.
[00:18:47.600]And I said, well, they tell a lot of stories.
[00:18:49.600]And so I think that's what's great about this exhibition is there are a
[00:18:51.600]lot of stories here.
[00:18:52.600]There's a lot of history, a lot of themes.
[00:18:54.600]They're important for people in our community, a campus community,
[00:18:57.600]a local community to see that reflect all of those things that you were
[00:19:01.600]just talking about.
[00:19:02.600]So, yeah, we're excited to be able to show that here.
[00:19:06.600]And Mary was talking a little bit about,
[00:19:09.600]you know, a little bit about media.
[00:19:11.600]And I'd like to talk about that, too,
[00:19:13.600]because we see such a wide variety of media used in the works that were
[00:19:17.600]selected for this exhibition.
[00:19:19.600]And I know when we were looking at submissions there was a little bit of
[00:19:22.600]discussion of, you know, do we need this or this, you know.
[00:19:25.600]But I think it was also somewhat organic, too,
[00:19:28.600]just how it came about and there was such a variety in what was submitted.
[00:19:32.600]But do you feel like there's anything new that you're seeing here or,
[00:19:37.600]as Mary said, always, you know,
[00:19:39.600]contemporary, some continuation here,
[00:19:41.600]anything that's being used in a different way,
[00:19:43.600]something that surprised you or intrigued you?
[00:19:46.600]I guess the one that really surprised me the most in this exhibition
[00:20:02.600]is the AI-created digital piece.
[00:20:07.600]And I'm a little wary
[00:20:09.600]of AI and kind of, yeah, just wary of it.
[00:20:16.600]But when I saw it, it was like, oh, that's what we can do with it.
[00:20:24.600]As long as there's some control and we're making the decisions,
[00:20:32.600]then maybe it's okay.
[00:20:34.600]But I was really surprised.
[00:20:36.600]I can see it here, too.
[00:20:39.600]The artist's handle is like Pendleton, Maine.
[00:20:43.600]And I was just really surprised at that piece.
[00:20:46.600]And it kind of had one of those joyful moments in it,
[00:20:51.600]because it's kind of clever in the design of it,
[00:20:56.600]and what those two ladies are doing for their community.
[00:21:01.600]And this pretend book, you know?
[00:21:04.600]It was just really great and kind of nostalgic.
[00:21:09.600]It's a lot of kind of young adult books,
[00:21:14.600]kind of Goosebumps kind of areas.
[00:21:17.600]So I was really surprised by the way I responded to the piece
[00:21:23.600]when we were going through the drawing process.
[00:21:27.600]That's immediately what I thought of, too, was that piece.
[00:21:30.600]Partially because I think AI is still on the top of people's minds right now,
[00:21:35.600]but also because when we were having conversation about that piece,
[00:21:39.600]in particular, and I don't remember which one of us it was,
[00:21:42.600]but it might have been me, actually.
[00:21:44.600]I think I asked Ashley, "Can we accept a piece that is AI-generated?
[00:21:49.600]Is there a reason why we shouldn't consider this for a show like this?"
[00:21:55.600]And the kind of consensus was, "Well, why not?"
[00:21:59.600]We don't know how something may or may not work until we try it,
[00:22:03.600]and so I think we kind of came to the consensus,
[00:22:06.600]there's no reason not to include something like that
[00:22:09.600]in a show about contemporary indigeneity, right?
[00:22:12.600]And I'm so glad that Mary brought up the example of glass beads
[00:22:15.600]and of ledger paper, like in Chris Papan's work back here,
[00:22:18.600]that we have always been integrating things
[00:22:21.600]that maybe when they first arrived to our communities
[00:22:25.600]may have been a little weird, right?
[00:22:27.600]The first person to incorporate beads into maybe quillwork patterns
[00:22:31.600]or into basketry patterns or whatever it might have been
[00:22:35.600]might have been questioned, maybe, by their community.
[00:22:39.600]Just like we're questioning, can we include AI in this show?
[00:22:45.600]But there's clearly a resonance with it, right?
[00:22:50.600]It resonates immediately when we were looking at it
[00:22:53.600]during one of our Zoom calls.
[00:22:55.600]The image pops up and we immediately start laughing,
[00:22:58.600]in a good way, not at the piece, but laughing with it.
[00:23:02.600]And so if there are those moments of experience
[00:23:05.600]and the way that you respond to something
[00:23:08.600]can be facilitated by new media, then why not try it?
[00:23:12.600]And I feel like an exhibition like this
[00:23:14.600]is the perfect place to try it and see.
[00:23:16.600]I think the same is true for Benjamin West's piece
[00:23:19.600]on that wall over there behind Ashley,
[00:23:22.600]where you can download an app on your phone
[00:23:24.600]and have a completely different experience
[00:23:26.600]in front of the same piece than you would
[00:23:28.600]if you just were looking at it with just your eyeballs, right?
[00:23:32.600]No phone in front of you.
[00:23:34.600]And what I appreciate about works like that
[00:23:37.600]is that it gives the viewer a lot of agency.
[00:23:40.600]It allows you to make the choice of whether you want to view that
[00:23:44.600]through your phone, right?
[00:23:45.600]Whether you want to augment or incorporate something else
[00:23:48.600]than what you see hanging on the wall.
[00:23:50.600]So you get to make that decision.
[00:23:52.600]So, yeah, I think with things like media,
[00:23:56.600]the question for me is always why not?
[00:23:58.600]Just do it and see what happens, right?
[00:24:01.600]And I think it is really a matter of how an artist
[00:24:06.600]is approaching working with the media.
[00:24:09.600]And in the case of these sort of book covers made using AI,
[00:24:18.600]it's really about kind of inserting a type of representation
[00:24:25.600]into a history that was otherwise absent.
[00:24:31.600]Maybe sticking on the digital thread for a moment,
[00:24:35.600]I was thinking about, and I may mispronounce the artist's name,
[00:24:40.600]but Hidogoji Harjo, young artist with digital artwork
[00:24:46.600]around the corner who's drawing on these traditions of tattooing,
[00:24:52.600]of basketry, and of textiles to create this really kind of
[00:24:57.600]otherworldly figure that is a kind of representation
[00:25:04.600]kind of representation that, for me, was super intriguing,
[00:25:09.510]something that I haven't quite seen before and is like a young artist who is entering into the
[00:25:17.050]field through this digital medium that she's obviously like very comfortable working with it
[00:25:21.910]and what excites me about it is that you know she has so much farther to go you know she's she's
[00:25:33.130]just starting out she's can has so much time to like really push that medium in in new directions
[00:25:39.090]and so that excites me you know the future of what these artists can do in terms of like maybe
[00:25:48.050]pushing the scale or the way that they're using the technology and that just shows a lot of promise
[00:25:53.950]I was also thinking about the two sort of landscape beaded works that are behind the audience
[00:26:02.450]who are
[00:26:03.110]Mona yeah Mona I looked I looked at Mona's name on the label before I came up here and I was like
[00:26:11.650]I'm gonna remember and then I forgot of course so sorry Mona but just you know working with
[00:26:19.750]media that are familiar within the realm of contemporary Native art
[00:26:27.790]but in a in a really unique way that I think sort of
[00:26:33.090]blends the contours of one material against another and I think that that's
[00:26:38.910]quite a novel way of working with with those materials but there's just in so
[00:26:44.770]many of the works that are on display here there's just such an intense level
[00:26:50.190]of skill that again draws on that continuum or continuity of generational
[00:26:56.010]knowledge and this really deeply historical process of adaptation and
[00:27:03.070]I think always really exciting to see thank you and I'd encourage you if you
[00:27:09.290]are able to download the app for Benjamin's piece you should it's pretty
[00:27:12.730]cool to see you see what it does so so with this show the museum has tried to
[00:27:19.290]create a space or a platform where indigenous artists have a voice and what
[00:27:24.430]role do you see for museums at other institutions and collecting and
[00:27:28.690]exhibiting indigenous art in the future like what role do you feel museums
[00:27:33.050]should be playing well when I was thinking about that question I was
[00:27:42.070]thinking about the fact that that Native artists already have a voice you know and
[00:27:48.810]that I think it's important for institutions to to recognize that to
[00:27:58.730]recognize the contributions that these artists make in their communities
[00:28:03.030]and sort of as a as a collective and though and the very different ways that
[00:28:09.590]they move through the world and I think that's important because institutions
[00:28:16.790]need to decenter themselves at the same time as offering reciprocal forms of
[00:28:27.330]support so it's not about just getting out of the way because that's
[00:28:33.010]not always a good form of support which I think you know can be sometimes what
[00:28:40.250]you see happen I've seen it happen certainly in institutions that I've
[00:28:44.990]worked with but it's it's really not about what is good for the institution
[00:28:53.230]but what's good for the artists and and for the community that that they're
[00:28:56.710]coming from and so that's a big challenge for institutions because
[00:29:02.990]we're used to sort of standardized ways of working this is the way it's done
[00:29:07.510]this is the way it's been done for for a long time and that's not always a bad
[00:29:12.630]thing or something that happens with with ill intention these are established
[00:29:18.330]practices that help us get things done right there's a practical kind of
[00:29:23.610]element to it but you just see so many examples of where that runs up against
[00:29:31.670]what is
[00:29:32.970]actually good for an artist or for the community that that they come from
[00:29:36.790]what's actually good for the work what's the intention of of the work you know I
[00:29:42.310]think in this context a lot of the work that we're looking at and visiting with
[00:29:48.690]tonight is is made for the space of the gallery and and of course native artists
[00:29:54.870]are working in ways that are informed by contemporary art histories and and
[00:30:01.350]practices
[00:30:02.950]so I think that it's just a matter of institutions trying to be responsive to
[00:30:14.830]be nimble and to always be educating themselves and at the museum where I
[00:30:22.670]work as well as some of the other museums in Canada
[00:30:27.130]there's thankfully I mean some are on really bad grounds right now but there's
[00:30:32.930]others that have also been doing really good work to build a critical mass of
[00:30:39.950]indigenous staff across different departments in leadership positions and
[00:30:46.050]to really carve out a space where indigenous people are in charge of the
[00:30:51.470]decisions and that's even within the sort of existing colonial structure of
[00:30:57.530]the museum so I sort of think that's where institutions need to be hit
[00:31:02.910]heading I think - I completely agree about not not acting as if you know an
[00:31:09.870]institution is a blank slate that an indigenous voice or voices can just come
[00:31:13.710]in and project themselves onto right like stepping out of the way isn't
[00:31:17.250]always the best thing and I think in in addition to elevating the works and the
[00:31:24.470]perspectives and the you know the opinions of working living indigenous
[00:31:30.410]artists in a gallery space I think
[00:31:32.890]we also need to be in terms of institutions thinking about that behind
[00:31:37.070]the scenes as well right like things that that we aren't and shouldn't really
[00:31:42.430]be getting credit for right like as we might with it with an exhibition but for
[00:31:47.350]collections care for example you know Tara pointed out making sure that that
[00:31:54.310]what we're doing is what's best for the artist and for the community I would add
[00:31:58.690]to that too it for the object as well like for the item itself
[00:32:02.870]and whether that means that it's an item that has kind of unique care that that
[00:32:09.050]has to be tailored to that item I don't think for you know for me I don't think
[00:32:13.790]that that means that collecting institutions should shy away from pieces
[00:32:17.490]that for acquiring pieces right for their collection that maybe they're
[00:32:23.610]unfamiliar with or they're not sure what the best way to care for that item would
[00:32:27.030]be or you're thinking about the longevity of the item should it have
[00:32:31.050]longevity is that the point of it right
[00:32:32.850]the museum where I work Gilcrease we're in a major reconstruction process
[00:32:39.970]completely rebuilding our museum and so I've had this on my mind for a number of
[00:32:46.510]years now but it's not just about what is presented to the public but it's
[00:32:51.230]about actually like our core is about caring for the items in the collection
[00:32:55.510]and if that means sending them home that means sending them home if that means
[00:32:59.430]creating a collections commitment that we will purchase you know a
[00:33:02.830]certain number of works by living working artists every year and as part
[00:33:07.010]of our acquisitions plan that's what we're gonna do and so we've had this
[00:33:10.110]amazing moment to kind of reflect and and it's made me think about the way
[00:33:13.390]that other institutions can do that as well right exhibiting and actually
[00:33:19.410]reciprocating are two very different things and I think that the
[00:33:24.150]responsibilities for institutions are going to differ obviously individually
[00:33:27.590]but they're also going to differ depending on the communities that they
[00:33:30.090]serve so yeah I think it
[00:33:32.810]it's it's not just what is shown to the public but also how we operate behind
[00:33:37.810]the scenes and acknowledging that the items that are on view or that are being
[00:33:42.410]cared for and stewarded are equally as important as the the people right that
[00:33:49.330]come into the museum or the people who create those items so I have I guess
[00:34:00.650]maybe a contradictory
[00:34:02.790]thought about all of this I I'm of the camp maybe area the idea that
[00:34:18.550]institution should get out of the way and give native people native artists
[00:34:25.370]give us the opportunity to find our way to find our own
[00:34:32.770]ways of to to work out how we would like things to happen because I think right now we spend so
[00:34:42.030]much time trying to adapt a colonial institution which is not meant for us
[00:34:48.910]we spend so much time trying to compromise with that institution
[00:34:54.690]that we're I think we're a little bit unsure on what we need or what we want
[00:35:02.750]and so I think maybe it would be great if the institution did get out of the
[00:35:10.730]way and give us the opportunity to do things to make mistakes to fail and
[00:35:17.790]figure out how we need to do it and what our what our path is outside of the
[00:35:25.490]institution because my I believe that our liberation and work
[00:35:32.730]our future lies is outside of colonial institutions and maybe they should all
[00:35:41.430]burn down and collapse and we build better so you know I know that's maybe a
[00:35:48.510]little especially sitting here in this institution on this panel with these
[00:35:55.130]very smart women that are like leading the way I know that's so contradictory
[00:36:02.710]that's kind of how I feel about it and how we I think we can be better and how
[00:36:10.390]you uplift the voices of Native people and Native artists and Native
[00:36:16.390]communities I don't think it's that contradictory I don't because so maybe
[00:36:21.130]it would help to clarify what I meant by get out of the way using was was
[00:36:32.690]like museums that are inherently colonial will never not be colonial
[00:36:37.970]serving as a resource for Native artists and Native thinkers rather than as a as
[00:36:48.530]the authority that dictates how something should be presented or how
[00:36:53.190]something should be displayed or whatever it might be or cared for right
[00:36:57.890]so rather than what I mean by getting out of the way is rather than obscuring
[00:37:02.670]right instead of saying well if if we're doing all of this wrong then we just
[00:37:07.950]won't do anything about it at all and you can figure it out maybe that could
[00:37:12.990]work in some instances but I think as a whole I see you know my role as a native
[00:37:18.590]woman working in a colonial institution to say okay how can we actually start
[00:37:24.030]like reciprocating and putting support not just like you know in terms of like PR
[00:37:32.650]for Native artists but like actual physical tangible resources into our
[00:37:38.650]communities that we haven't been doing before but allowing those communities to
[00:37:43.590]decide what that should look like right so serving as a resource maybe rather
[00:37:48.370]than as the you know cliche a kind of ivory tower part of this like colonial
[00:37:54.910]institutional power and also I think you're right Mary because institutions
[00:38:02.630]are good at setting us up to fail by not offering the kinds of support that we
[00:38:10.970]need I feel like I could confidently say that we've all personally experienced
[00:38:17.270]this in different contexts and so when I think about an institution getting out
[00:38:26.150]of the way that I was also sort of thinking about absconding from responsibilities
[00:38:32.610]to to support when really there should be there should be resources and you
[00:38:37.770]know there should be administrative support for when people want to do
[00:38:41.190]creative things you know those are the kinds of things I'm thinking about and I
[00:38:46.890]appreciate all your feedback on this it's a it's hard I think for us here
[00:38:52.410]being an organization that has a collection of Native art and wants to
[00:38:57.070]support Native artists and with a staff of you know settler
[00:39:02.590]history and how do we work to you know to do these things that you talked about
[00:39:07.570]and it's it's a it's a challenge but we're I think as you said Tara to keep
[00:39:12.790]educating ourselves and growing and learning how best we can do that work is
[00:39:19.630]important and I I want to give us time so that the audience has the time to
[00:39:26.610]answer some to ask some questions so would you guys be okay if we jump to
[00:39:30.610]that right now yeah so
[00:39:32.570]there is a mic for Q&A that Allison has in the back does anyone have any
[00:39:37.690]questions for our jurors today you do we've got one up here let's have Allison
[00:39:43.310]bring you the mic yeah Gilchrist I love that museum it was a fantastic one I'm
[00:39:54.350]also in Scottsdale Arizona so the herd and that's a huge undertaking that they
[00:40:01.530]do seasonally
[00:40:02.550]to bring in 300 artists that I think are juried but I every part of the
[00:40:11.610]country has a different
[00:40:15.250]ancestral art so how do you meld that together or do you as what I mean you know do you mean
[00:40:32.530]specific like in terms of kind of these kind of in quote unquote encyclopedic museums where
[00:40:37.770]they're showing like all of American or the planes or in what context both I guess I mean
[00:40:48.810]yes can you or do you even have the ground floor for a massive
[00:41:02.510]undertaking such as that commonality yeah so I would say yes absolutely for speaking specifically
[00:41:10.750]about native communities in that respect our ground floor in 2024 in North America is colonization
[00:41:19.890]right that is that that is the shared commonality that we still deal with and so yes we speak
[00:41:27.490]different languages we have different beliefs we create different art forms we've we've lived
[00:41:32.490]in different places we have relationships with specific lands and places that other
[00:41:36.550]communities don't and so it we got to be really careful about obviously not homogenizing or you
[00:41:44.310]know assuming that all native peoples think and feel the same way about something except
[00:41:50.910]for maybe colonization I think you know coming from a community that has lived through that
[00:41:58.590]there is not just a sense of solidarity but a sense of
[00:42:02.470]survival and now I think this exhibition is a really good illustrator of this but
[00:42:09.730]of thriving right and so for me I'll just give you an example so Gilcrease Museum specifically
[00:42:16.330]there's not an ad for Gilcrease Museum like I said so we're currently closed we are we are
[00:42:23.990]redoing the museum and dealing with a lot of these questions we have a 350,000 object collection
[00:42:30.170]which is massive and
[00:42:32.450]that was the initial collection was collected by Thomas Gilcrease who was a Muscogee citizen
[00:42:38.830]so if you want to talk about like the the complexities and difficulties of
[00:42:44.210]currently working in an institution that was founded by a native man but specifically as a
[00:42:50.810]very colonial institution his his vision was to have an encyclopedic collection that talked about
[00:42:58.090]the entire history of the Americas like north to south
[00:43:02.430]all of it right and it essentially does from 12,000 BCE until now we just our newest acquisition
[00:43:11.530]was a week ago it's it's massive and so we've been dealing with this question of how do we
[00:43:18.590]present this to the public in a way that is not only cohesive but impactful and relevant
[00:43:24.490]and for me it's going back to what what Thomas Gilcrease that we know from what he has left for
[00:43:32.410]us to care for what he saw as the history of the Americas is one of a continuum right of continuing
[00:43:40.290]so when you see those arrowheads you know those or those Clovis projectile points or this you know
[00:43:47.570]ceramic robot by a native potter that we just purchased at my insistence those are the I mean
[00:43:56.050]like for me I'm like those are telling the same stories because they're the continuation of the
[00:44:02.390]so that I think is the ground floor right the foundation and I think that's true for
[00:44:09.270]other communities who live under a settler colonial state which includes like our black
[00:44:16.630]kin right black and indigenous peoples obviously have incredibly divergent histories and concerns
[00:44:25.170]and needs in the contemporary society we live in but there's also that recognition
[00:44:32.370]and that solidarity of we've also been living under the same settler colonial state right
[00:44:40.130]the effects of that might be different and the motivations for a settler state might
[00:44:46.950]be different depending on which community that you live in but there can be those shared
[00:44:52.490]kind of realities that we all live in and deal with right so I'm sorry for that long
[00:44:59.810]rambling answer but I think that's what kind of
[00:45:02.350]ties all of us together and allows us to have these kind of conversations where we
[00:45:08.570]can now say like those shared realities kind of suck sometimes but we can thrive and we
[00:45:16.450]can have moments of joy and beauty in them too so yeah
[00:45:20.430]anyone else have an answer or that's great answer to the question any other questions
[00:45:29.270]we've got one back there
[00:45:32.330]on a little different tack you've made mention of the process of
[00:45:41.850]jurying for this exhibition I wonder if you could flesh that out a little bit and I had
[00:45:46.990]a couple of specific questions of my own how did you decide what to include and I understand
[00:45:57.170]the practicalities of needing to do this virtually but were there pieces where you really wish
[00:46:02.310]you could have seen the the real thing oh yeah is so so great to come and see some things
[00:46:09.470]in person that you know may not have had the best documentation
[00:46:17.550]and you know the materials are often difficult to capture in photography the depth of certain
[00:46:25.130]things thinking about you know Henry's collages and how different the experience
[00:46:32.290]of them in person than in images this was a great from my perspective process
[00:46:43.170]just sort of practically we were given time with the works there's like a sort
[00:46:53.530]of rough scoring system we make comments on everything and then we came together
[00:46:58.270]to discuss it and then sort of revised what we wanted to do
[00:47:02.270]and then we went through another process over email of being like oh this
[00:47:06.590]person isn't available what do you think about this shift in in things so it
[00:47:12.170]was really conversational and I think we talked a lot about so we talked a lot
[00:47:24.270]about how the works relate to the Great Plains to the contemporary experience
[00:47:29.670]the contemporary indigenous experience on the
[00:47:32.250]Great Plains which is like a big topic obviously and has many different
[00:47:36.590]permutations throughout the exhibition and then I think we also at least for
[00:47:44.910]myself you know I I thought about what the artist was saying about their work
[00:47:50.710]and whether or not I felt like I saw that in the work and sometimes those the
[00:47:58.190]intention and the outcome don't always match up you know and that's okay
[00:48:02.230]and then I think also you know a lot of the a lot of the artworks that that were
[00:48:09.510]selected are they're really masterful in their skills you know that in so many
[00:48:17.510]different types of media and some are also a little bit more experimental in
[00:48:23.530]terms of where they're at with their their use of the media so I think and
[00:48:29.150]then we also had conversations about like the range of different types
[00:48:32.210]of work that were included because we're all curators and we can't help but
[00:48:35.810]thinking that way so those are some of the conversations that we had I don't
[00:48:41.830]know yeah and I had to interject sometimes too and be like we only have
[00:48:47.410]certain amount of space for you know three-dimensional pieces like you see
[00:48:51.450]where you're sitting right now no three-dimensional pieces can be placed
[00:48:55.010]in this space so that does limit us a little bit you know and every
[00:48:58.670]institution has those limitations well and I'll say too
[00:49:02.190]it was really great because even after that process of reviewing pieces
[00:49:06.710]on our own all of the submissions on our own and then having this long
[00:49:09.790]conversation about it together via via zoom we were also able Ashley was
[00:49:14.270]able to facilitate like questions back to certain artists so if there was
[00:49:18.630]something we wanted clarification on or or if the the image wasn't quite
[00:49:22.170]clear enough of a work or whatever it might have been
[00:49:24.250]we were able to still communicate with the artists
[00:49:28.130]and get clarification on those so it was a very kind of dialogic
[00:49:32.170]process not just amongst us but amongst the artists as well
[00:49:36.490]I would agree there's I think we maybe have time for
[00:49:41.330]one more quick question if anyone has one
[00:49:44.510]if not I don't think so I think I want to thank our jurors for sure for
[00:49:52.150]being here tonight and all of you and we'll have a little bit of time here
[00:49:56.230]at the end if you want to talk to them or or look at the rest of
[00:49:59.330]the show and the show is up through December 21st
[00:50:02.150]so please come back and take a look if you have time thank you thank you
[00:50:09.450]you
[00:50:11.510]you
[00:50:13.570]you
[00:50:15.630]Thank you.

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Juror talk: "Contemporary Indigeneity 2024"

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