An Indigenous Present

From the arrival of Europeans until the mid-20th century, the policy of colonial, US and Canadian governments was the displacement and extermination of North America’s Native peoples. Beginning with the American Indian Movement, part of the civil rights activism of the 1970s, Native Americans have been fighting to reclaim their lands and revitalize their cultures. Tradi- tional crafts are now recognized as living art forms, not artifacts. Native artists have gained prominence in mainstream contemporary art, using and reshaping it to tell their own stories.

In 2023, artist Jeffrey Gibson (Choctaw/Cherokee) and curator Jenelle Porter produced An Indigenous Present, a groundbreaking volume surveying 100 years of work by over 60 contemporary Indigenous North American artists working in a range of nontraditional media and genres. Last year they selected works by 15 artists from that survey for a show organized by the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston.

“Present” is the operative word in An Indigenous Present: artists working in contemporary styles and materials, using abstraction to convey stories and sense of place. George Morrison (Ojibwe) established himself as a prominent Abstract Expressionist in New York before re- turning to his native Minnesota. His 1962 painting (Untitled) renders the colors of a Midwest landscape in jagged brushstrokes reminiscent of Mark Rothko. Teresa Baker (Mandan/Hidatsa) combines natural and synthetic materials in a collage evoking both a traditional weaving and a landscape crossed by railroad tracks. Sky Hopinka (Ho-Chunk Nation) uses video to dissolve images of Southwestern red rock canyons into color fields. All offer arresting visions of their land. Throughout the show, works by little-known or emerging artists are juxtaposed with the more famous, highlighting connections between generations and the continuum of cultural traditions.

In his introduction to the book, Gibson described what unites their work: “Some of these artists have been working for decades, and I follow in their path; others are at an earlier stage in their career, and I see new routes and possibilities in their respective practices. Together, they are amplifying the histories that have come before them and building a new context for present and future artists.”

Opening reception Nov 6, 7:30–9pm

Art history lecture on Jeffrey Gibson Nov 12, 11:30am–12:30pm

fryemuseum.org