Tag: indigenous

Carlos Motta with Elio Miraña, ELO, Gil Farekatde Maribba, Higinio Bautista, Kiyedekago, Rosita, and Yoí nanegü at PPOW Gallery

Beautifully shot and installed in Tribeca’s PPOW Gallery, Columbian artist Carlos Motta’s ‘Air of Life’ video installation is reached by passing by sculpture crafted by Indigenous Brazilian craftsman Higinio Bautista. This particular collaboration began with Bautista’s retelling of a legend of shamans who transformed into animals to protect the people and land.  He prompted Motta to draw the figures, which Bautista then carved.  Once past the protective deities, gallery visitors take in soaring views of the Amazon while watching Indigenous South American musicians, activists, and community leaders explain their work in a c. 42 minute presentation on a screen and two monitors.  Commissioned for an exhibition related to Indigenous representation now on view at Museo de Arte Miguel Urrutia in Bogota, the works in the show give insight into to the lives of those working to protect tradition.  (On view through Oct 7th).

Carlos Motta, installation view of ‘Air of Life’ at PPOW Gallery, Sept 2023. Sculpture in the foreground: Carlos Motta and Higinio Bautista, Shaman Anteater, carved wood, 43 ¼ x 15 ¾ 16 ½ inches.

Jeffrey Gibson at the Brooklyn Museum

Native people are seen as creative agents, rejecting the colonial gaze in a powerful presentation at the Brooklyn Museum organized by artist Jeffrey Gibson and curator and professor Christian Crouch.  Photos, text, ceramics and more from the institution’s Native American study collection and archives join Gibson’s own joyously colored paintings, sculpture and here, photography.  Dance emerges in the show as a healing act while Gibson’s costumes, inspired by 19th century Ghost Dance, offer protection.  (On view at the Brooklyn Museum of Art through Jan 10th).

Jeffrey Gibson, Roxy (Stand Your Ground), photographic prints, triptych, 2019.

 

Adriana Varejao at Lehmann Maupin Gallery

Brazilian artist Adriana Varejao explores the complicated relationship between western and indigenous cultures with a series of self-portraits that blend Native South American and mid-20th century minimalist aesthetics. Here, wavy feathered plumes contrast a stark geometric stripe running the length of her face and clouds of dots over her eyes. (At Lehmann Maupin Gallery on the Lower East Side through June 16th).

Adriana Varejao, Kindred Spirits IV (detail), oil on canvas, 4 parts, each 20.47 x 17.91 x 1.38 inches, 2015.
Adriana Varejao, Kindred Spirits IV (detail), oil on canvas, 4 parts, each 20.47 x 17.91 x 1.38 inches, 2015.

Sebastiao Salgado at Yancey Richardson Gallery

Ocean waves smoothed the base of this iceberg while wind erosion and detached ice carved the top into this majestic, castle-like form. It’s one of the many stunning images from Sebastiao Salgado’s latest ‘Genesis’ series – for which the artist travelled the world photographing landscapes untouched by modernization – currently on view at Chelsea’s Yancey Richardson Gallery. (Through Jan 24th).

Sebastiao Salgado, Fortress of Solitude, Antarctica, 24 x 25 inches, gelatin silver print, 2005.