Inspired by both the occupation of Alcatraz by the Indians of All Tribes in 1969 as well as a treatise written at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) that same year and first published in Santa Fe, New Mexico, this presentation of Indian Theater: Native Performance, Art, and Self-Determination since 1969 marks a kind of ‘homecoming’ for the conceptual basis of the groundbreaking exhibition, which has been previously shown in the Northeastern United States and in Canada.

Curated by Candice Hopkins (citizen of Carcross/Tagish First Nation), Executive Director and Chief Curator of Forge Project, Indian Theater: Native Performance, Art, and Self-Determination since 1969 is the first major exhibition to center performance as an origin point for the development of contemporary art by Native artists. Far-ranging in scope and perspectives, the exhibition features artists of Native American, Alaska Native, First Nations, Métis, and Inuit backgrounds. Indian Theater traces the history of artistic experimentation that emerged in the late 1960s, a rich period of creativity that was expressed through political action, critical engagement with existing Native aesthetic practices, and a profound reconsideration of identity—all of which led to a renewed era of self-determination that continues to inform Native artists today.

An intergenerational exhibition, Indian Theater brings together over 100 artworks by over 40 artists and collectives, including works by Rebecca Belmore (Anishinaabe), Nicholas Galanin (Tlingit/Unangax̂), Jeffrey Gibson (Mississippi Band of Choctaw and Cherokee), Maria Hupfield (Anishinaabe, Wasuksing First Nation/Canada), and Eric-Paul Riege (Diné) and more. Previously exhibited at the Hessel Museum of Art, Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York and at the MacKenzie Art Gallery in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, the exhibition concludes its tour in Santa Fe, New Mexico in what will be its most expansive iteration to date.

Taking the 1969 IAIA document as its starting point, Indian Theater engages notions of object and agency, sound and instrumentation, dress and adornment, and the body and its absence. With a broad scope, the exhibition examines the history of Native contemporary art through the lens of performance in its many interpretations, including theater, live performance, sculpture, public interventions, and collective actions.

The exhibition features recently digitized footage of Spiderwoman Theater (Lisa Mayo, Gloria Miguel, and Muriel Miguel [all Rappahannock and Kuna]), available for viewing for the first time since its original live debut. As the longest running theater group in the US, Spiderwoman Theater emerged from 1970s feminism and its disillusionment with the treatment of women in radical political movements of the time. The exhibition expands to include film, video, performance, sculpture, painting, drawing, and beadwork that at once pay homage to the legacy of innovative Native aesthetic traditions and this continuing tradition of experimentation and performativity.

Artists

KC Adams (Métis); asinnajaq (Inuk); Sonny Assu (Ligwiłda’xw Kwakwaka’wakw from Wei Wai Kum Nation); Natalie Ball (Klamath/Modoc); Rick Bartow (Wiyot); Rebecca Belmore (Member of the Lac Seul First Nation [Anishinaabe]); Bob Boyer (Métis); Dana Claxton (Lakota); Theo Jean Cuthand (Plains Cree, Scottish, Irish); Ruth Cuthand (Plains Cree, Scottish, Irish, Canadian); Beau Dick (Kwakwaka’wakw, Musgamakw Dzawada’enuxw First Nation); Demian DinéYahzi’ (Diné); Rosalie Favell (Métis [Cree/ British]); Jeneen Frei Njootli (Vuntut Gwitchin, Czech and Dutch); Nicholas Galanin (Tlingit/Unangax̂); Jeffrey Gibson (Mississippi Band of Choctaw and Cherokee); Ishi Glinsky (Tohono O’odham); Raven Halfmoon (Caddo); Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill (Métis); Sky Hopinka (Ho-Chunk Nation/Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians); Maria Hupfield (Anishnaabek, Wasauksing First Nation/Canada); Matthew Kirk (Navajo/Diné); Kite (Oglala Sioux Tribe); Cannupa Hanska Luger (Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara, Lakota); Tanya Lukin Linklater (Alutiiq/Sugpiaq); Linda Lomahaftewa (Hopi/Choctaw); James Luna (Payómkawichum, Ipai, and Mexican); Rachel Martin (Tlingit/Tsaagweidei, Killer Whale Clan, of the Yellow Cedar House [Xaai Hit’] Eagle Moiety); Kent Monkman (member of Fisher River Cree Nation in Treaty 5 Territory [Manitoba]); Audie Murray (Métis); Lloyd Kiva New (Cherokee); New Red Order (Adam Khalil [Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians]; Zack Khalil [Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians]; Jackson Polys [Tlingit]); Jessie Oonark (Inuit); Jaune Quick-to-See Smith (Salish member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Nation); Eric-Paul Riege (Diné); Walter Scott (Kanien'kehá:ka [Mohawk]); Spiderwoman Theater (Lisa Mayo, Gloria Miguel, and Muriel Miguel [all Rappahannock and Kuna]); Charlene Vickers (Anishinaabe); Kay WalkingStick (Citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and Anglo); Marie Watt (Seneca and German-Scot); Dyani White Hawk (Sičangu Lakota); and Nico Williams (Anishinaabe).