Exposure: Native Art and Political Ecology
Armory Center for the Arts
January 27 - June 11, 2023
Pasadena, CA—Armory Center for the Arts is pleased to announce Exposure: Native Art and Political Ecology. This group exhibition features artists’ responses to the impact of governmental and corporate actions and policies on Indigenous peoples and lands through nuclear production processes such as nuclear testing and uranium mining. Exposure includes 36 artists and collectives, most of whom are Indigenous, from Australia, Canada, Greenland, Japan, the Pacific Islands, and the United States. The exhibit presents an interdisciplinary mixture of forms including sculpture, photography, collage, fiber, paintings, and virtual-reality experiences. Exposure will be open Friday, January 27 through Sunday, June 11, 2023. A public reception and curator walkthrough takes place Sunday, February 19 at 2 pm. Admission is free and open to the public.
About the Exhibition Exposure: Native Art and Political Ecology was organized by and first presented at the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico, a contemporary art venue operated by the Institute of American Indian Arts, in 2021. It was developed by a curatorial team including iBiennale Director Dr. Kóan Jeff Baysa; Nuuk Art Museum Director Nivi Christensen (Inuit); Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art Chief Curator Satomi Igarashi; Art Gallery of New South Wales Assistant Curator of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Erin Vink (Ngiyampaa), and independent curator Tania Willard (Secwepemc Nation). MoCNA’s Chief Curator Manuela Well-Off-Man conceived the exhibition.
Manuela Well-Off-Man states the necessity of documenting these Indigenous viewpoints and explains the intention behind Exposure: “The first international exhibition of its kind, Exposure was developed during the 75th anniversary of the first nuclear bomb test explosion in New Mexico as well as the bombings of the Fukushima-Daiichi accident. The main goal for the traveling exhibition and [exhibition catalog] is to provide a platform for international Indigenous artists to address the long-term effects of nuclear testing, nuclear accidents, and uranium extraction on Indigenous communities and the environment. Much of the atomic testing and related disasters happened many decades ago, with little public knowledge and even less of an understanding of the effects. For this reason, another goal of the exhibition is to create greater awareness of the potentially deadly consequences of nuclear exposure. This includes shedding light on the fact that radioisotopes from nuclear test explosions enter everyone’s body and expose us to radiation for our entire lives. Many of these disasters are either forgotten, overshadowed by other environmental catastrophes, or covered up by the companies or governments responsible for them.”
The artists in the exhibition include: Adrian Stimson (Blackfoot), Alexander Lee (Hakka Chinese/Tahiti), Anna Tsouhlaraskis (Navajo/Creek/Greek), Ann Collier, APY Art Centre Collective (Pitjantjatjara/Yankunytjatjara/Luritja/Walpiri/Ngaanyatjarra), Betty Muffler (Pitjantjatjara), Bolatta Silis-Høegh (Inuit), Bonnie Devine (Anishinaabe/Ojibway), Carl Beam (Ojibway), Daniel Lin, Dan Taulapapa McMullin (Samoan), David Neel (Kwakwaka’wakw), De Haven Solimon Chaffins (Laguna and Zuni Pueblos), Gunyi Ganambarr (Yolŋu), Hilda Moodoo (Pitjantjatjara), Ivinguak Stork Høegh (Inuit), Jane Lily Benale (Diné), Jessie Kleemann (Inuit), Jerrel Singer (Diné), Joy Enomoto (Kanaka Maoli/Caddo), Kathy Jetn̄il-Kijiner (Marshallese-Majol), Karrika Belle Davidson (Pitjantjatjara), Klee Benally (Diné), Kim Hahn (Korea), Kohei Fujito (Ainu), Kunmanara Queama (Pitjantjatjara), Malcolm Benally (Diné), Mallery Quetawki (Zuni Pueblo), Marquita “Micki” Davis (CHamoru), Munro Te Whata (Māori/Niuean), No’u Revilla (Kanaka Maoli), OKI (Ainu), Pat Courtney Gold (Warm Springs), Rankin Taxi, Solomon Enos (Kanaka Maoli), Will Wilson (Diné), and Yhonnie Scarce (Kokatha/Nukunu).
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