SITElines.2014
Unsettled Landscapes
Unsettled Landscapes looked at the urgencies, political conditions and historical narratives that inform the work of contemporary artists across the Americas – from Nunavut to Tierra del Fuego. Through three themes – landscape, territory, and trade – this exhibition expressed the interconnections among representations of the land, movement across the land, and economies and resources derived from the land.
“With Unsettled Landscapes, we build connections from Santa Fe to the rest of the Americas, we explore untold stories and perspectives, and we link between our past and our present,” said Irene Hofmann, Phillips Director and Chief Curator of SITE SANTA FE. “First Native American land, then a Spanish kingdom, a Mexican province, and an American territory, all before statehood, New Mexico is a rich microcosm of the Americas. We are proud of the selection of artists participating in Unsettled Landscapes. These artists represent multiple generations and regions throughout the Western Hemisphere. Our show includes important new and existing works, 13 new commissions and several offsite installations. In addition, we have also included key works of art from previous decades that further expand the ideas of the show. Our aim was to curate a dynamic exhibition that shows how themes of landscape, territory and trade weave throughout the work of artists from every corner of the Americas.”
Exhibited Artists:
Shuvinai Ashoona
Jamison Chas Banks
Raymond Boisjoly
Andrea Bowers
Matthew Buckingham
Adriana Bustos
Johanna Calle
Luis Camnitzer
Liz Cohen
Minerva Cuevas
Blue Curry
Agnes Denes
Juan Downey
Gianfranco Foschino
Futurefarmers
Anna Bella Geiger
Andrea Geyer
Frank Gohlke
Pablo Helguera
James Hyde
Deborah Jack
Yishai Jusidman
Leandro Katz
Irene Kopelman
Miler Lagos
Glenda León
Ric Lum
Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle
Gilda Mantilla & Raimond Chaves
Daniel Joseph Martinez
Jason Middlebrook
Ohotaq Mikkigak
Kent Monkman
Patrick Nagatani
Florence Miller Pierce
Fernando Palma Rodríguez
Marcel Pinas
Edward Poitras
Marcos Ramirez ERRE & David Taylor
Kevin Schmidt
Allan Sekula
Melanie Smith
Charles Stankievech
Clarissa Tossin
Antonio Vega Macotela
Curators:
Candice Hopkins & Lucía Sanromán
Curator of Special Projects:
Janet Dees
Shuvinai Ashoona
By turns uncanny, comical and disquieting, Shuvinai Ashoona’s idiosyncratic dream-like imagery erases the distinctions between the natural and spirit worlds, and between the real and imagined. Many of the artist’s images include fantastical monster-like creatures, while others portray people and planets orbited by a range of beings including fish and walruses. Ashoona’s drawings of tents and wooden structures positioned on rock strewn landscapes often provide glimpses of their interiors, transforming what might otherwise be mistaken for images belonging to ethnographic illustration into uncanny meditations on the fluid boundary between inside and outside. Known for her aerial perspectives and cropped compositions, Ashoona’s carefully executed drawings and prints are often marked by a filmic sensibility.VIEW ARTISTCandice Hopkins
Candice Hopkins is a citizen of Carcross/Tagish First Nation and lives in Red Hook, New York. Her writing and curatorial practice explore the intersections of history, contemporary art, and Indigeneity. She is Executive Director of Forge Project, Taghkanic, NY, and Senior Curator for the 2019 and 2022 editions of the Toronto Biennial of Art. She was part of the curatorial team for the Canadian Pavilion at the 58th Venice Biennale, featuring the work of the media art collective Isuma; and co-curator of notable exhibitions including the national traveling survey VIEW CURATOR