Truth Telling in honor of Native American Month

Studio Theater in Exile, which is now physically housed in the Black Box at Hudson Valley MOCA, will be showing Truth Telling in honor of Native American Month. The exhibit can be seen on www.studiotheaterinexile.com and www.HudsonValleymoca.org for the months of November-December.

The exhibit features the works of eight contemporary Indigenous artists: Christi Belcourt, the late T. C. Cannon, Nicholas Galanin Yéil Ya-Tseen, Hock E Aye VI Edgar Heap of Birds, Margaret Jacobs, Rose B. Simpson, Duane Slick and Benjamin West. Their visual truth-telling presents a counter-hegemonic view of Native people

The exhibit Featuring the works of eight contemporary Indigenous artists: Christi Belcourt, the late T. C. Cannon, Nicholas Galanin Yéil Ya-Tseen, Hock E Aye VI Edgar Heap of Birds, Margaret Jacobs, Rose B. Simpson, Duane Slick and Benjamin West. Their visual truth-telling presents a counter-hegemonic view of Native people.

Curated by Jonette O’Kelley Miller, curator and art historian, commented “For Indigenous people, land, water, and nature are revered and protected because they give and sustain life. Unfortunately, European settlers considered that perspective as naive. Developing the land and taking its resources; i.e., procuring authority and economic power were deemed as more highly evolved.ⁱ Therefore, the presence of an indigenous people group was considered a nuisance that needed to be removed and eradicated.

The featured artists, all internationally known, express themselves in conceptual, figurative, indigenous, multimedia, and sculptural genres. Working in a variety of media, the artworks range from exuding a minimalist to a spiritual beauty.  Some works are deliberately provocative. Evoking the Trickster spirit, they expose latent mindsets and thus challenge viewers to deeper reflection.  Contemporary Indigenous visual artists are griots and healers. While providing ‘soul restoration,’ they reject the settler culture’s historical narrative.