Welcome to Session Six

The activism of the 1970s and new approaches to art in the 1980s inspired Indigenous artists to explore the dismantling of dominant settler narratives about Indigenous peoples and cultures as well as to continue communication about the Indigenous presence in their lives.  In 1999, scholar Gerald Vizenor (Anishinaabe) coined the term “survivance” to describe this continuing Indigenous presence framed by grievance, humor, pathos, and anger. 

For the selection of  contemporary Indigneous artists for our study, we have looked to several museums with current  or recent exhibitions on Indigenous art. We have received immeasurable help from curators at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art and the Modern Art Museum, both in Fort Worth, TX . The Amon Carter Museum's exhibition, Speaking with Light: Contemporary Indigenous Photography from Oct 2022 to Jan 2023,  was one of the first to explore the work of contemproary Indigenous Photographers. It is highly recognIzed for its collections of historical photographs from the mid to late 19th century.of Indigenous leaders who traveled to Washington DC for treaty negotiations.  Some of these photographs were viewed in our slide presentation in Session Two.)

During  Oct 23, 2022 to Jan. 21, 2024 the Modern Museum of Fort Worth hosted the exhibition, Memory Map,  considered to be the largest and most comprehensive display of the work of Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, a leading contemporary artist of her time who most recently died (January 24, 2025). The exhibit was organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Here in Session Six you will find ten artists and their work reflective of "Survivance". These artists are declaring through their work: We know who we are, we are present, and we understand what has been done to us. We remain deeply connected to our ancestors, traditions, and the land, and we live to affirm our continuing existence, rights, and commitments to our cultures." Speaking with Light, Amon Carter Museum of American Art.

For class on April 21, scroll down for an overview of these ten artists and their work. Then read about the lives of these three artists and view their work.  How might these individual pieces reflect survivance?

Jaune Quick-to-See Smith (1940- 2025)

Zig Jackson (b.1967)

James Luna (1950-2018)

Work by Shan Goshorn (from left to right), Chain Reaction (2014), Resisting the Mission: Filling the Silence* (2016), Unexpected Gift (2015).

 " Resisting the Mission; Filling the Silence, a set of baskets commemorating a tragic era in American history. Beginning in the 19th century, American Indian children were removed from their homes and forced to attend boarding schools. Once there, they were stripped of their Native identities. Woven during the last two years of her life, the impressive set of seven pairs of baskets is perhaps the magnum opus of Goshorn’s unique works. She used traditional Cherokee weaving techniques to create art with an unexpected purpose—to show the strengths and struggles of American Indian people."

Zig Jackson, Entering Zig's Indian Reservation, China Basin, San Francisco, CA. 1991. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

Zig Jackson, Indian Man on the Bus, Mission District, San Francisco, California, from the series Indian Man in San Francisco. 1994, printed later Inkjet print. Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas, P2021.7. © Zig Jackson Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara, North Dakota 

"Zig Jackson transforms an everyday scene with an enactment of Indigenous presence. By donning his headdress, the artist uses San Francisco’s MUNI public transit system as a stage for the performance of identity. Jackson’s “Indian everyman” commands presence, standing against erasure through his regalia and authoritative gaze. He pushes back against the flattening of stereotyping and exoticism, compelling viewers to question preconceived notions of what Indigenous people are supposed to look like and where they live." (Speaking with Light, Denver Art Museum)

James Luna's most seminal work, The Artifact Piece (1987/1990) was first presented at the San Diego Museum of Man and later at the Studio Museum in Harlem as part of the landmark Decade Show.

 "In the piece, Luna lay still, nearly naked, in an installation vitrine, typically seen in natural history museums. This simple, quiet piece highlighted how Americans see Native Americans not as living, breathing humans—a culture that lives on—but as natural history artifacts. For this installation,  Luna wore a loin cloth and was surrounded by objects such as divorce papers, records, photos and his college degree." National Gallery of Art. Acquisition, James Luna, National Gallery of Art, Jan. 28, 2022

Wendy Red Star, Accession Series, Portfolio of 15 pigment prints on archival paper, Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art, Hamilton College 

Wendy Red Star, Indian Congress, 2021, Site specific installation at the Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, NE

" Star’s Karen and Doug Riley Contemporary Artists Project (CAP) Gallery exhibition engages the history of the 1898 Indian Congress, an unprecedented convening of over thirty Native American tribes during Nebraska’s Trans-Mississippi Exposition."

"From a series of celestial couture garments titled Thunder Up Above, Red Star reimagines the regalia associated with powwow, a circular dance celebration found throughout Indigenous Plains cultures including Red Star’s Crow Nation, in futuristic terms.  

 Stirs Up the Dust, Red Star brings a feminist lens (women have only been allowed to dance in powwow circles since 1953) to this iconic look, using candy-colored streamers, an elaborate bustle, and a conceptual headpiece reminiscent of the outlandish headgear seen on high fashion runways. Performed within a Martian landscape, Red Star’s regalia projects the wearer into the future, bringing her high-style, cosmic powwow to outer space and worlds beyond. 

Future Imaginaries explores the rise of Futurism in contemporary Indigenous art as a means of enduring colonial trauma, creating alternative futures and advocating for Indigenous technologies in a more inclusive present and sustainable future. Over 50 artworks are on display, some interspersed throughout the museum, creating unexpected encounters and dialogues between contemporary Indigenous creations and historic Autry works.

By intermingling science fiction, self-determination, and Indigenous technologies across a diverse array of Native cultures, Future Imaginaries envisions sovereign futures while countering historical myths and the ongoing impact of colonization, including environmental degradation and toxic stereotypes."

From Future Imaginaries: Indigenous Art, Fashion, Technology,  September 7, 2024 – June 21, 2026, Samuel & Minna Grodin Gallery, Autry Museum of the American West, Los Angeles

 "First, there’s “We Dreamt Deaf” (2015), a taxidermic bear that was shot by a white hunter in Shishmaref, Alaska, before Galanin was born. Located on an island off the coast of Alaska, Shishmaref is sinking into the sea, making subsistence hunting and fishing dangerous and nearly impossible for the indigenous community based there. Part bear, part rug, Galanin tells Hyperallergic that the piece refers to the dangers of ignoring climate change, but it’s also about First, there’s “We Dreamt Deaf” (2015), a taxidermic bear that was shot by a white hunter in Shishmaref, Alaska, before Galanin was born. The polar bear’s emaciated state illustrates the consequences of humans forgetting their place in the world, where energy extraction comes at the cost of animals, cultures, and entire ecosystems." Nicholas Galanin, Hyperallergic, November 18, 2019.