For the last 15 years, Jeffrey Gibson, the first Native American artist to represent the United States at the Venice Biennale, has been actively working to change the context and perception of Indigenous art. In addition to his personal exploration of heritage through materials and techniques, he also strives to collapse the gap between Indigenous tradition and contemporary art for other artists, as well as audiences. For his show at the 2024 U.S. pavilion, he invited a host of artists, dancers, and musicians to participate in the opening and various public programs, raising most of the $5.8-million budget himself. That spirit of collaboration and sharing also characterizes his current exhibition at MASS MoCA, where seven new works set the stage for various performances and interventions from others.
Best known for dazzlingly patterned and hand-embellished textiles, Gibson has now extended his material range to bronze—and his conceptual interests to include not only interhuman, but also interspecies relationships. “The Animal That Therefore I Am,” his project for the Metropolitan Museum Façade Commission, features four new animal sentinels that translate textural detail, delicacy, and the handmade into monumental outdoor form. Like all of Gibson’s works, these figures defy reductivism, encouraging (re)connection with the past and engagement with the present to move forward.
Jan Garden Castro: You have been very busy recently. In addition to your own work, you joined with independent curator Jenelle Porter to produce a landmark publication, An Indigenous Present, which also serves as the basis for an exhibition at the ICA Boston. Through extensive research and a collaborative process, you brought together works by Native North American artists exploring diverse approaches to concept, form, and medium. Why is this project important?
Jeffrey Gibson: Honestly, it’s a book that I’d hoped somebody else would make. All these years, the Native Indigenous art world and the more mainstream art world, in my experience, rarely crossed over. . .
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