Beyond Jimmie Durham: Contemporary Native American Art and Identity

Floor 3, Susan and John Hess Family Gallery and Theater

The exhibition Jimmie Durham: At the Center of the World has triggered critical conversations about who is defined as a Native artist. While these debates have recently entered the mainstream art world, they have been going on for decades in the Native art field, revealing the complexities inherent in the reception of Native artists in the broader contemporary art world. This roundtable discussion with artists, curators, and scholars addresses these debates and considers new ways that American institutions might approach Native art and artists in the future. The panel includes Jeffrey Gibson, Ashley Holland, Betsy Theobald Richards, and Jolene Rickard, and is moderated by Kathleen Ash-Milby.

Speakers

Kathleen Ash-Milby is Associate Curator at the National Museum of the American Indian in New York.

Jeffrey Gibson (Mississippi Band of Choctaw and Cherokee) is an artist whose multi-disciplinary practice intermingles elements of traditional Native American art with contemporary artistic references. His work is the subject of an upcoming traveling mid-career survey organized by The Denver Art Museum, opening in the spring of 2018.

Ashley Holland (enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation) is a doctoral student at the University of Oklahoma in Native American art history. She was formerly assistant curator of Native American art at the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art, Indianapolis, Indiana.

Betsy Theobald Richards is the inaugural Creative Fellow at The Opportunity Agenda, a progressive communications think tank in New York City. Formerly, she served as a Program Officer at the Ford Foundation in Media, Arts and Culture and was focused on supporting Indigenous and place-based communities. She is a cultural producer, theater artist, and an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma.

Jolene Rickard (Tuscarora) is Associate Professor, Department of History of Art and Art Department, and Associate Professor, Director of the American Indian and Indigenous Studies Program, Cornell University.