Sandra Hale Schulman
ICT
The latest: Indigenous in jokes, a retrospective and a troublemaker, top shelf books
ART: Native wit in art
Native humor is told in many ways. A new show at the Institute of Contemporary Art Santa Fe presents “Reservation for Irony: Native Wit and Contemporary Realities,” an exhibition curated by Trotta-Bono Contemporary.
The exhibition explores satire and humor in contemporary Native art and storytelling. The featured works are by Kent Monkman, Cara Romero, Nicholas Galanin, Diego Romero, Tony Abeyta, Geralyn Montano, Nico Williams, Bob Haozous, David Bradley, Glen La Fontaine, Harry Fonseca, TC Cannon, Fritz Scholder, Rick Bartow, Richard Glazer Danay, Kathleen Wall, George Alexander, and Del Curfman.
Through painting, sculpture, photography, and installation, these artists show the absurd, embrace satire, and employ irony to navigate layered identities, gently confront colonial narratives, and reflect on social and political realities. Comedy is a strategy of Indigenous resistance and revelation. Art cuts to the truth when language falters.
Roxanne Swentzell’s “Unstable World” will be featured in “Reservation for Irony: Native Wit and Contemporary Realities,” an exhibition appearing at the Institute of Contemporary Art Santa Fe. (Courtesy photo)
“Working with art and artists we admire is the highlight of developing an exhibition,” James Trotta-Bono told ICT. “In this show, the unapologetic satire flips the script, mocks the myths, and reveals how irony and humor can be a dynamic entry point into meaningful discourse.”
The artists in “Reservation for Irony” show individual yet interconnected approaches. Kent Monkman – who has a major show now in Denver – uses his flamboyant gender-fluid alter ego, Miss Chief Eagle Testickle, to subvert art historical imagery, adding Indigenous presence with biting theatrical flair.
Cara Romero blends traditional icons and images to show the evolution and irony of Indigenous identity. Diego Romero fuses Pueblo ceramic traditions with comic book satire. Nicholas Galanin contributes one of his “I think it goes like this …” series, using the opening line of a joke and a poetic metaphor for the fracturing work of how culture is reconstructed.
As part of the exhibition, Trotta-Bono Contemporary and Institute of Contemporary Art Santa Fe will present two public programs: a panel discussion featuring artists Romero, Galanin, and Monkman, moderated by artist Tony Abeyta, and a stand-up comedy night hosted by cartoonist Ricardo Cate with friends.
“Indigenous Humor as Resistance: A Panel Discussion,” Friday, August 15, 10:30 a.m. GMT, Institute of Contemporary Art Santa Fe.
MORE ART, FILM & MUSIC: Indian Market week filled with stellar events
Outside of the main SWAIA Indian Market fair, there is much to explore and attend in Santa Fe.
Earl Biss retrospective exhibit at Galerie Zuger promises to be great with talks by biographer/filmmaker Lisa Gerstner Friday, August 15, and Saturday, August 16, from 4-7 p.m. GMT. Biss was a fascinating painter whose exploits and artwork still resonate with contemporary artists and collectors.
The Cara Romero Gallery presents a group exhibition, “New Mythos,” featuring eight Indigenous artists whose interdisciplinary work weaves together personal narratives and cultural landscapes through photography, mixed media, and contemporary art forms.
The participating artists – Shelley Niro, Kent Monkman, Cara Romero, Jeremy Dennis, Leah Mata Fragua, Diego Romero, Bonny Melendez, and Robert King – create what curator Romero describes as “a kaleidoscope of human ideas and experiences about how we relate to our ancestors and our future.” Opening Thursday, August 14, 4 p.m.-8 p.m. GMT. Featuring Native cuisine by Cleo’s Blue Corn Kitchen.
Native musician and actor Gary Farmer – who we love as the pot head Uncle Brownie on “Reservation Dogs” – is back on the live show scene with two shows in Santa Fe in August. Tumbleroot Brewery on Thursday, August 14, at 7:30 p.m. GMT; then at Pathways at Buffalo Thunder Hilton, Saturday, August 16, at 4 p.m. Farmer has recovered from serious illness, and it’s great to see he will be performing again around town.
The Pathways Indigenous Arts Festival August 15-17 at the Buffalo Thunder Hilton is a complete art and entertainment fair on its own, with 400 vendors, live music, fashion shows, films including the Sundance Indigenous Shorts Tour, “The Birth of the Crying Indian” by Montana Cypress, “Courage” by champion hoop dancer Eric Hernandez, and the stellar “John Trudell” documentary by Heather Rae 20th anniversary screening, all in the luxe art-filled Hilton resort.
BOOKS: Moons and stars
A charming, colorful, art filled story of community, individualism, and one’s responsibility to family, made more beautiful with traditional beadwork in the art, comes “All The Stars In The Sky,” an Indigenous perspective of one’s place in the world and how we all light up the sky, together.
Young Clay asks his elisi (grandmother) for help to be named Star of the Week at school. He is surprised by her answer when she says, “No one person is more important than his family and his community.”
But does that mean Clay is still important at all? The answer delights everyone.
Author Art Coulson is a writer of Cherokee, English, and Dutch descent and comes from a family of storytellers in all three traditions. Art traveled the world, and served as the first executive director of the Wilma Mankiller Foundation in the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma after an award-winning 25-year career in journalism. Winona Nelson is a fine artist and illustrator of comics and children’s books. Her fine art focuses on the stories and history of her tribe, the Ojibwe of Minnesota, as well as on gender and diversity.
In her debut picture book, Wunneanatsu Lamb-Cason, Schaghticoke and HoChunk, captures a grandmother and grandchild’s special relationship through their shared wonder and admiration of the night sky. With rich illustrations, “Grandmother Moon” preserves Indigenous histories and teachings in a modern setting, reminding us that Grandmother Moon is watching over us, and we are safe and loved.
During her weekly car ride with her grandmother from the city to the reservation, a young Native girl ponders the moon that seems to follow them. “Nohhum, doesn’t it look like the moon is following us?”
Each week, she looks forward to listening to her grandmother’s warm, soothing voice as she sings and tells stories. Tonight, her grandmother teaches her about Grandmother Moon, her significance, and why we honor her.
“The Sacred Stone Camp” is written with love by Rae Rose, is a deeply moving tribute to Native historian and activist LaDonna Brave Bull Allard’s work and impact with lush watercolor illustrations by Aly McKnight.
Native historian and activist L Allard died in 2021 and left behind a remarkable legacy that continues to inspire water protectors. LaDonna’s story is especially prevalent with the upcoming 10th anniversary of the founding of the Sacred Stone Camp and the 10th anniversary of the NoDAPL protests in April 2016. Although the pipeline is still operating, protests against it and new pipelines are ongoing. The book is a conversation starter for why people protested the pipeline and the impact that pipelines have on the Earth.