TV Broadcast and Streaming
12th Annual PBS Short Film Festival
July 10-21. Streaming on PBS and other platforms. Works selected include:
Two Bears Documentary. US. Anthony Florez (Pyramid Lake Paiute). Casey TwoBears is a Marine Corps veteran, ex-junkie, and former county inmate. While working as a janitor for a boxing gym, Casey volunteers to be the sparring partner for the local “champ” in order to prove his worth as a warrior in the ring, but also to prove himself as the modern warrior that his daughter and granddaughter can depend on. Vision Maker Media.
IDODO Animation. Switzerland/US. Ursula Ulmi Based on a local legend from Papua New Guinea, where the director was born, IDODO retells the story of how reef fish got their beautiful coloring. Long ago the fish transformed into humans and came onto land to celebrate and dance. Once the sun set, they hurried back into the sea, leaving behind a big mess. The villagers of one island seek out who those uninvited visitors were and make a discovery that amazes and mesmerizes them. Pacific Islanders in Communications
Kumu Niu Documentary. US/Hawai’i. Produced by National Association of State Foresters The island of O’ahu is covered with coconut palms, but for fear of liability the vast majority of these sacred trees have been stripped of coconuts. The grassroots movement “Niu Now” is on a mission to restore the “”niu,”” or coconut, as a fundamental food crop in Hawai’i and spread the Indigenous wisdom of “aloha ‘āina:” loving land and serving people. Pacific Islanders in Communications.
Dark Winds Season 2
Premieres July 30. 6 episodes released weekly on AMC on Sun through Sept 3. All available for early access on AMC+ (online subscription)
The first season of Dark Winds left a lot of questions unanswered. Set in the 1970s in a remote town in the Navajo Nation, the series follows a series of crimes including murders and robberies. Zahn McClarnon and Kiowa Gordon play the two tribal police officers, Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee, respectively, who investigate the cases. The further they dig, the more it extends beyond the physical and seems more surreal, shaking their own spiritual beliefs and pushing them to rediscover themselves. Directors are Chris Eyre, Michael Nankin, and Billy Luther, and writers and co-writers include Luther, Steven P. Judd, Rhianna Yazzie, and series creator Graham Roland.
POV Children of the Mist
Premieres July 31 on PBS stations and online
Children of the Mist Feature documentary. Vietnam. Hà Lệ Diễm. The story of Di, an Indigenous 13-year-old girl coming of age in a remote Hmong community in the mountains of northwest Vietnam. As part of the first generation in her village with access to education, Di navigates the cultural and social challenges faced by young girls in her community while balancing inherited tradition with change. Shortlisted, 95th Academy Awards.
Reservation Dogs Season 3
Premieres Aug 2. 10 episodes. Streaming on FX on Hulu (In July, Season 1 is also airing on the FX channel)
Co-creators Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi have announced that this is going to be the final season of the award-winning series. About Season 3: “The first two seasons of Reservation Dogs were full of comedic twists and dark turns. The talented team of writers mixed the joy of close friends and community with the pain that comes with losing someone you love, the struggle of trying to get out of a rural small town, the betrayal of friends, and the pain of parental abandonment…In a recent interview Harjo stated that there is a darkness coming in Season 3. After everything that audiences have witnessed the gang endure in the past two years, it is hard to imagine what trials they will face next, though, we know that it will be masterfully balanced out with plenty of jokes and laughter.” -Bryanna Elhi in Collider
Gone Native
Joey Clift (Cowlitz), comedian and TV writer (28 episodes of Spirit Rangers), has produced comedic digital shorts offering “a tiny bit of education about what it means to be an American Indian in the 21st Century.” Five episodes, each about 2 min. long, distributed online in partnership with Comedy Central, have been viewed more than 7 million times across social media.
2023 Pacific Heartbeat
This annual documentary series showcases the diversity and complexity of Pacific Islander culture. The 12th season has been announced, consisting of four new documentaries. Beginning in August, they can be seen in scheduled broadcasts on US public television stations nationwide, on the WORLD channel, and online. The films are:
Ola Hou: Journey to New York Fashion Week When Native Hawaiian fashion designer Sharayah Chun-Lai receives an out-of-the blue invitation from the world-renowned Runway 7 to showcase her brand, Ola Hou Designs, at the prestigious New York Fashion Week, she and her supportive family are tossed into a fast-paced world of planning, preparation, and runway readiness to bring the spirit of the Big Island to the magic of the Big Apple.
Island Cowgirls Highlights two Hawaiian cowgirls (paniolo) who have dedicated their lives to caring for their family ranches. On the northwest side of Hawai‘i island, as La‘i Bertlemann prepares to graduate from high school, she must make a difficult decision whether to stay home in Hawai‘i and continue her family tradition of land stewardship or leave. Meanwhile, on the south side, Lani Cran Petrie is at a crossroads as she continues to plan for the future of her ranch while faced with the uncertainty of the state-held lease of the land expiring soon.
Kāhuli and After the Endling Hawai‘i’s native snail species play significant roles in its ecosystem and Native Hawaiian culture, yet they face increasing threats and are rapidly disappearing. This episode includes two films that explore this largely unknown and complex world, encourage us to reflect on our relationship with the natural world and show us that even the smallest species are worth saving.
Daughters of the Waves Although only 20, Vahine Fierro is undaunted by the Teahupoo wave, considered the most dangerous in the world. Vahine surfs as no other Polynesian girl has ever surfed. In Tahitian culture, riding the waves is an ancestral activity from which women had been gradually eliminated, but now surfing is open to women, just in time for the Olympics. Coming from an entire family of surfers, Vahine and her two sisters hope to make a living with their passion and travel the world
High Country
This new Australian detective series has 8 episodes and will be broadcast in Australia starting in 2024. It stars Leah Purcell (Goa, Gunggari, Wakka Wakka Murri) as detective Andrea Whitford. She is tasked to solve a baffling mystery of five missing persons who have vanished into the High Country of Australia’s Victoria wilderness. Other leads include Ian McIlhenny (from Game of Thrones) and Aaron Pederson (Arrente, Arabana) (from Mystery Road). The series has been written by Marcia Gardner, John Ridley and Beck Cole (Warramungu, Lurija) and the series directors are Cole and Kevin Carlin.
ICT Newscasts– New topics
Online and also broadcast on Free Speech TV, usually on local public TV stations. Recent coverage includes a tribal leader welcoming the growing Abenaki presence in Vermont, writer and actor Bobby Wilson previewing the upcoming and final season of Reservation Dogs, fashion designer Patricia Michaels and her couture as seen at the Cannes Film Festival, Portland General Electric signing a pact with the Native-led organization Willamette Falls Trust to potentially restore a massive waterfall near what is now Portland, Oregon, and environment ministers from eight countries that border the Amazon continuing to fight for the Indigenous people in the rainforest.
FILMS and FESTIVALS
Hybrid, Online
BlackStar Film Festival
August 2-6. Tickets. In-person in Philadelphia and online.
Specializing in work by Black, brown and Indigenous directors, this annual festival showcases experimental work from around the world. This year will feature 93 films representing 31 countries including many premieres. The films this year engage with climate justice, queer stories and narratives of migration and displacement. Among the works screening are
Dau:añcut | Moving Along Image Experimental feature. US. Adam Piron. In 2014 an unknown man in Ukraine was tattooed with a portrait of a relative of the filmmaker in his traditional regalia. In search for this man, the film interrogates what happens when the control of an image is lost and multiple ironies.
Indigenous short works include Jonathan Thunder: Good Mythology US. Sergio Mata’u Rapu (Rapanui), Tierra en Trance Mexico. Colectivo Los Ingrávidos, Spirit Emulsion Canada. Siku Allooloo (Inuk, Haitian, Taino heritage) and Grape Soda in the Parking Lot Canada. Megan Kyak Monteith (Inuk), Taqralik Partridge (Inuk)
Outfest LA Film Festival – Fancy Dance
Online until July 23 in US only. Tickets
Fancy Dance Narrative feature. US. Erica Tremblay (Seneca-Cayuga). In Cayuga, English. When her sister goes missing a young Native woman takes her niece with her on a search for answers. An award-winning drama about family, community, identity, and sisterhood.
NFB/National Film Board of Canada
Indigenous Cinema Online
Ongoing online. Registration and membership are free
NFB offers a rich online collection of Indigenous cinema–documentaries, animations, interactives–made between 1968 and 2022. Two new feature documentaries filmed in the North–Ever Deadly and Voices across the Waters–and a new interactive, Similkameen Crossroads, are included. In June the NFB launched curated channels drawing from this to observe Indigenous History Month and Pride Month–Wapikoni Mobile channel, Transmission of Indigenous Knowledge channel, Indigenous-Make Animations channel and 2SLGBTQI+ channel https://www.nfb.ca/channels/lgbtq2/
In all, the NFB website now features more than 6,000 online films, as well as a collection of over 100 interactive works. Works are available outside of Canada. It is very easy to access films on the NFB website, which includes an interactive catalog of Indigenous films. https://www.nfb.ca/subjects/indigenous-peoples-in-canada-first-nations-and-metis/
Jackson Wild – World Wildlife Day Showcase
“Indigenous Stories”
Ongoing. Free. Streaming on Eventive. After unlocking, 30 days to finish watching.
This encore screening from Jackson Wild, one of the programs originally curated for World Wildlife Day in March, consists of seven films from diverse regions and peoples: The Ghost Rainforest, Aguilucho: Dance of the Harpy Eagle, The Lost Salmon, Seagrass for Sea Change, Living with Lions,The Letter: A Message for Our Earth, Saving the Florida Wildlife Corridor.
DCEFF/Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital
Watch Now: “Indigenous Voices”
“Indigenous Voices” is a section of more than 50 films In the DCEFF catalog of 300+ films now online that have been programmed in previous festivals. Some films stream on the DCEFF website. Some are available on third-party platforms such as Hulu that may require a subscription or pay per view.
FILMS and FESTIVALS
In-person
New Zealand International Film Festival
July 19-Aug 6. Tickets. In-person in Auckland. Through Sept 10. In 15 additional towns and cities across Aotearoa/New Zealand.
Films with Indigenous stories and/or creators include
The New Boy Narrative feature. Australia. Warwick Thornton. A young Aboriginal boy (Aswan Reid) is left at an outback convent run by Sister Eileen (Cate Blancett), and the story “sweeps the viewer into a battle of wills and faiths between the boy’s spiritual connection to the land, and Sister Eileen’s Catholic faith, all blood and thorns, and tensions rise.” – Sally Woodfield.
GAGA Narrrative feature. Taiwan. Laha Mebow (Atayal) In Ayatal and Chinese. Grandpa Ha-yong (Wilang Noming), the patriarch of an Indigenous Taiwanese Atayal family living in the highlands, has followed the tradition of gaga—a traditional values system—all his life, but the younger generations have little interest in keeping it alive. Between financial stress, an unwanted pregnancy and simmering family tensions, they all must learn the importance of their relationships and keeping their traditions alive as modern society continues to threaten their culture, heritage and way of life. This is the third feature from Laha Mebow, Taiwan’s first female Indigenous director.
Brujería/Sorcery Narrative feature. Chile. Christopher Murray. In Spanish, Mapuche, German with English subtitles This tale of a young Huilliche girl’s search for justice, after the violent and needless death of her father, morphs into a parallel journey of self-discovery. Cast out by her colonial employers, thirteen-year-old Rosa finds a place, and the possibility of redress, with her estranged Indigenous community. Inspired by true tales of 19th century Chilean witchcraft trials, this is both a critique of colonization and colonial power dynamics and, with its supernatural elements, the potency of Indigenous resistance.
Les colons/The Settlers Narrative feature. Chile/Argentina/France/Taiwan/UK/Denmark/Sweden/Germany. Felipe Gálvez. A Western that gradually takes on the viewpoint of its sole Indigenous character, Segundo (Camilo Arancibia). He is one a group of Indigenous laborers building a fence to separate the pampas of Chile from those of Argentina under ruthless Spanish overseers. Segundo’s work broadens, and through him, by the film’s ending this has become a tale of historical reckoning.
The Survival of Kindness Narrative feature. Australia. Rolf de Heer. “For Indigenous people, and people of color around the world, ‘dystopia’ is not a concept relegated to sci-fi films or Orwellian novels, but a lived reality.” — Luke Buckmaster, The Guardian A character known as BlackWoman (Mwajemi Hussein), initially confined to a cage, and sinister white figures facing death from some post-apocalyptic illness, are the protagonists in this eerie theatrical and allegorical film. Oppression and colonization emerge as key themes in an almost dialogue-free experience as BlackWoman moves through hauntingly beautiful landscapes dotted with treacherous scenarios and beleaguered people.
War Pony Narrative feature. US. Gina Gammell, Riley Keough. Featuring A swirling mix of hardship and resourcefulness, disappointment and hope. War Pony tells the journeys of twentysomething hustler Bill and school-aged runabout Malho, both living on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Grounded by the Lakota scriptwriters Franklin Sioux Bob and Bill Reddy, the film won the Caméra d’Or prize at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival.
Sweet As Narrative feature. Australia. Jub Clerc (Nyul Nyul, Yawaru). Visually spectacular and rooted in Indigenous Australian understanding of Country, the film follows 16-year-old Murra (Shantae Barnes-Cowan) who is one step away from entering the child protection system when she is sent on a photography safari into remote Western Australia. Through her camera, Murra begins a deep cultural healing. The film won the Crystal Bear award at the Berlin International Film Festival.
“Ngā Whanaungo | Maori Pasifika Shorts” A collection of eight Māori and Pasifika short films has been selected by co-curators Leo Koziol (Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Rakaipaaka), director of the Wairoa Film Festival, and Craig Fasi(Niue), director of Pollywood Film Festival.
Gimli Film Festival
July 26-30. Tickets. In-person in Gimli, Manitoba. Virtual Festival TBA.
Indigenous Feature Documentaries
Aitamaako’tamisskapi Natosi: Before the Sun Canada. Banchi Hanuse (Nuxalk) Growing up on her grandfather’s ranch, Logan Red Crow has been around horses as long as she can remember. The Siksika teenager was 15 in her first race and never looked back. As she prepares to make history by joining the men’s competition on the world’s largest stage at the Calgary Stampede, there’s no hiding from the dangers of North America’s original extreme sport.
Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On Madison Thomas (Ojibwe, Saulteaux) The story of musical icon Buffy Sainte Marie is told through interviews with her peers, those she inspired and, of course, Buffy herself. For over five decades, Buffy has demonstrated a commitment to her principles that not only sets her apart from her peers, but has also allowed her to have an impact felt around the world.
Twice Colonized Denmark, Greenland, Canada. Lin Alluna. In English, Kalaallisut, Inuktitut. Aaju Peter is a renowned Greenlandic Inuit lawyer and activist who defends the human rights of Indigenous peoples of the Arctic and a fierce protector of her ancestral lands. As Aaju launches an effort to establish an Indigenous forum at the European Union, she also embarks upon a complex and deeply personal journey to mend her own wounds, including the unexpected passing of her youngest son
Indigenous experimental and documentary short works included are čišet Canada. Dir. Cameron Fraser-Monroe. Prod. Artists Climate Collective. The Great Kind Mystery Canada. Dir. Ella Morton. RUNNING Canada. Dir. Zachary Cameron Longboy
NATIVE CREATIVITY
Artist Events, Performances
Hessel Museum
Center for Indigenous Studies
July 22-23. In-person at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY
Part of the exhibition “Indian Theater: Native Performance Art and Self-Determination Since 1969”
“Being Future Being: Land/Celestial” by Emily Johnson | Catalyst
Sat, July 22, 6 pm
Featuring a newly commissioned score by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Raven Chacon (Diné) and a stellar cast of performers, this invites you into a series of intimate encounters with our more-than-human kin. Emily Johnson (Yu’pik) is a Bessie Award-winning choreographer, Guggenheim, Native Arts and Cultures Foundation, and United States Artists Fellow, and recipient of the Doris Duke Artist Award.
“Don’t Make Me Over” by Jeffrey Gibson and Arielle Twist
Sat, July 22 and Sun, July 23, 8 pm. An original collaborative performance by artist Jeffrey Gibson (Mississippi Band of Choctaw and Cherokee) with artist, author, and educator Arielle Twist (Nehiyaw [Cree]), a two-spirit trans woman, centered around the narratives and lines that course through the song “Don’t Make Me Over.”
“A Conversation with Jeffrey Gibson and Emily Johnson”
Sun, July 23, 2 pm. A conversation with the two artists, moderated by Candice Hopkins, curator of the exhibition “Indian Theater.”
“White Carver” by Nicholas Galanin. Performed by Perry Hohlstein.
Sun, July 23, 12 Noon. An ongoing performance from Nicholas Galanin (Tlingit, Unangax̂) reflecting the legacy of appropriation and demonstration in Indigenous art, particularly by non-Indigenous individuals, and taking a jab at exotic/erotic content and the concept of display in a museum setting to highlight the way viewers may objectify Native people.
National Museum of the American Indian
Indian Summer Showcase – Innastate
Sat, July 29, 2:30-3:30. Free. In-person in Washington, DC on NMAI’s Outdoor Plaza
Innastate, with their blend of Indigenous reggae from the Santa Fe desert, returns to NMAI this summer. The group members are Adrian Wall (Jemez Pueblo), Rylan Kabotie (Santa Clara Pueblo/Jicarilla Apache), Lawrence Bailon(Santa Clara Pueblo/Kewa Pueblo), Karlo Johnson (Isleta Pueblo), Romeo Alonzo, and Mikey Jaramillo.
Gary Farmer and The Troublemakers All Star Tour
Tickets. At multiple sites in Ontario. On Thurs, July 27: in-person at Sanderson Centre in Brantford.
The group includes Gary Farmer (Tuscarora) , award-winning actor and mouth organ virtuoso, Derek Miller, two-time Juno winning singer/songwriter/guitarist from Six Nations, Brock Stonefish, singer/ songwriter/guitarist from the Delaware Nation at Moraviantown, with his new song Residential Redemption reaching #1 on the top 40 Indigenous Music Countdown, Howe Gelb, singer/songwriter/guitarist/keyboardist, known in the Southwest as the ‘godfather of alt-country’ and ‘elder ambassador of desert rock’, based in Tucson, AZ, Charly Lowry, musical powerhouse from Pembroke, NC from the Lumbee/Tuscarora Tribes. Singer/songwriter/guitarist and Native American hand drum, known for her strong, passionate voice and versatility.. Opener: Cliff Cardinal & The Sky-Larks
NATIVE CREATIVITY
Technology: Project Solve
MIT Project Solve
Solve is an initiative of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) concerned with social impact innovation. Through its Global Challenges, Solve finds tech-based social entrepreneurs all around the world. The project then brings together MIT’s innovation ecosystem and a community of members to fund and support these entrepreneurs to help them drive lasting, transformational impact.
This year Solve has selected 75 outstanding finalists in four different categories with solutions that address the 2023 Challenges (out of 1,500 applications). The public is invited to read about each of these finalists’ projects and vote by September 16 for their favorite solution. The winner in each category will win a cash prize and from the 75 about 30 projects will be selected for further support in their development.
Indigenous projects can be in any of three categorical groups, and make up the entire fourth group, the Indigenous Communities Fellowship Program. These are listed below briefly but the descriptions of the problems and solutions are in full detail on the website. Below that are links to more information about the Indigenous program.
Indigenous Projects
Global Challenge: Learning for Civic Action
Mayan Women’s Leadership Committees
New Sun Road is organizing Mayan women in rural communities in Guatemala to manage solar-powered and internet-enabled Digital Community Centers as their entrepreneurial activity.
Indigenous Communities Fellowship Program Challenge
Coalescence Curriculum on Carnivore Coexistence A project to serve the Flathead Indian Reservation, especially members of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of present day Montana, by creating expanded virtual interactive content and activities concerned with enhancing the understanding and interactions of humans and local populations of animal predators.
Totem A project to serve banking needs of Indigenous people in the US by providing safe, free accounts to people who might no otherwise have access to banking services.
Natives Rising | Empowerment through tech & entrepreneurship A project to further the work of a nonprofit organization that offers: an online community for Indigenous professionals in tech to network and find guidance, a fellowship for Native women college students studying technical majors, a STEM summer camp for Native high school seniors, and in the future, an accelerator for Native founders to help them develop and launch their companies.
Waniskâw is an online platform for Indigenous youth to learn, create and share. Existing educational platforms are not accessible to most Indigenous youth and Waniskâw uses self-expression as an intrinsic form of motivation through tutorials and free online tools so youth can create without expensive drawing tablets.
We Will Plant Lodge A project to empower Indigenous women and 2SLGBTTQQIA+ people to reclaim their place as the traditional agricultural leaders in their communities, by helping them rematriate land and (re)learn their ancient traditions.
DOTS and TEK A combined effort of DOTS (Digital Observation Technology Skills) kits and TEK (Traditional Ecological Knowledge) to encourage and support Indigenous land-based teaching and learning in tribal schools or schools with large Native populations. DOTS Kits are portable, durable kits with technology tools, developed to pair with a tribal community’s environmental and ecological goals.
Kia Hiapo A land stewardship program that has a mission to restore and revitalize traditional land management and food production in Wahiawā, such as land terracing, to return it to the rich agricultural center it once was.
Shawish Market – Virtual Indigenous Marketplace A virtual marketplace dedicated to Indigenous entrepreneurs will offer them an opportunity to create their own online shops. Unlike other marketplaces, Shawish does not charge any transaction or monthly fees to its vendors, making it accessible and affordable.
Informed Moms, Healthy Moms An initiative to provide culturally-sensitive health information to pregnant Indigenous people at the community level, focusing on Algonquins of Barrière Lake First Nations community.
Collective Indignity and Liars Aboriginal Women’s Society A project using technology to map both community-sourced and traditional knowledges to tell a different story about Indigenous people’s experiences of violence and injustice in the Yukon (as a pilot).
Ma Ka Hana Ka ‘Ōlelo Hawai’i A project to provide meaningful work-based learning opportunities to Native Hawaiian youth in East Maui through a service-oriented education continuum to strengthen environmental stewardship, cultural identity, intergenerational relationships, and technical skills.
Protect the Tract – Gihę’gowahneh Climate Action Strategy A program to develop a climate action strategy that engages Haudenosaunee peoples to enact their distinct cultural practices to revitalize the caretaking of the Grand River watershed and to ensure the reserve is made sustainable.
Listening to Our Mother, Learning from Our Matriarchs Disaster impacts in Indigenous communities are further compounded because of gaps in emergency management practices and insurance disparities. Led by an Indigenous Circle of Matriarchs, this project focuses on cultural safety in evacuations and displacement–through colonialism, disasters and climate change..
Renewing Native internee leadership to combat isolation A project to work with Native communities to help rectify multi-faceted inequalities – characterized by the intersections of race, gender, age, culture and SES (socioeconomic status) – faced by girls, young women and 2SLGBTQ+.
Indigeponics: Resiliency & Economic Development A program to promote sustainable food production in tribal communities through introduction to controlled environment agriculture (CEA), and to focus on the question of what CEA technology holds for tribal communities and individuals, and how to indigenize the CEA space.
More About Solve’s Indigenous Innovators
“Calling All Indigenous Innovators: An Exclusive Q&A with Jeff Ward”
In honor of Solve’s expanding the Fellowship to Canadian innovators, an interviw with Fellowship Leadership Judge, Jeff Ward (Ojibwe, Métis) during the annual US Equity Summit. He is the founder and CEO of Animikii, an Indigenous tech company working with organizations to build websites, web applications, and custom software. The team at Animikii has also developed a tool–Niiwin–to improve Indigenous data sovereignty.
“Robots for Indigenous Youth”
2021 Indigenous Communities Fellow Danielle Boyer is making STEM accessible for communities that have been traditionally excluded.
EXHIBITIONS
Museums and Public Art
OCAD University – Onsite Gallery
“On Americanity and Other Experiences of Belonging”
June 14-Dec 9. Free. In-person in Toronto
This exhibition is developed around the notion of “Americanity” and what it stands for today. “This concept has been historically and generally used to name a shared cultural belonging to the American continent. Yet, does Americanity imply the same whether a person lives in Bacatá (Bogotá), Tiohtiá:ke/Mooniyang (Montréal), or Tsi Tkarón:to (Toronto), and whether they were born in Abya-Yala (America) or on another continent?” The artists consider the complex colonial histories across Abya-Yala and explore the possibility of shifting existing transcontinental identities and experiences of belonging through their creativity and engagement. For the online exhibition publication go here. https://www.ocadu.ca/sites/default/files/onsite_gallery/OnAmericanity_Publication_Digital%20(1).pdf
The exhibition, curated by Analays Álvarez Hernández and Colette Laliberté, features 8 artists, including Caroline Monnet (Anishinaabe, French), known for her work in sculpture, installation and film, including her recent feature Bootlegger. In 2023 she received Sundance Institute’s Merata Mita Award and was named to the Order of Arts and Letters of Quebec.
River Valley Arts Collective
Kite: “Oíhaŋbleta (In a Dream)”
June 25-Oct 14. In-person at the Al Held Foundation, Boiceville, NY. Reservations required.
An exhibition of new, textile-based work by artist Kite (Oglala Lakota), whose work is seen “as a means of bringing knowledge from the nonhuman realms of machines, animals, and spirits into the human realms of creation.”
Closing Soon. Go to the websites for full descriptions and more.
Scandinavia House in New York City
“Arctic Highways – Unbounded Indigenous People”
Through July 22. Free. In-person in New York City
Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City
“Jaune Quick-to-See Smith: Memory Map”
Through Aug 13. Tickets. In-person in New York City
FAM/First Americans Museum in Oklahoma City
“200 Years of Doctrine of Discovery: Johnson v. M’Intosh and the Indian Removal Act”
Through Aug 31. Free. In-person in Oklahoma City
Some Summer Reading
Shutter by Ramona Emerson (Diné) In this first novel of a trilogy, Emerson tells the story of Rita Todacheene, a forensic photographer. As the book opens, she is documenting a suicide, but she sees enough suspicious details to question the police’s story. Longlisted for the National Book Award and also honored by PEN America, that longlisted the novel for the PEN Open Book Award (to an exceptional book-length work of any literary genre by an author of color) and the PEN/HEMINGWAY Award For Debut Novel (to a debut novel of exceptional literary merit by an American author).
When Two Feathers Fell from the Sky by Margaret Verble (Cherokee). This novel from Pulitzer Prize finalist Margaret Verble, set in 1926 Nashville, follows a death-defying young Cherokee horse-diver, on loan to Glendale Park Zoo from a Wild West show, and determined to find her own way in the world. Following an accident during her performance, a mystery, deeply connected to past events and including the lingering the presence of ghosts of the past, begins to unfold. To get to the bottom of it, an eclectic cast of park performers, employees, and even the wealthy stakeholders must come together. This is a tale “of performance, community, romance and unexpected friendship.”
A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcie Little Badger (Lipan Apache) ““This is a delightful and imaginative novel with alternating protagonists. One is Nina, a teenager trying to translate a story told by her great-great-grandmother in her native Athabaskan language, Lipan. The other is Oli, a cottonmouth snake with the ability to shapeshift, who is learning to find his way after being pushed from the nest. Climate change features, informed by the author’s geoscience degree and PhD in oceanography. Another theme is linguistic diversity and the crucial role of storytelling in keeping cultures alive. (It) is also very much a story of friendship.”―Five Books
The Sacred Space by Brian J. Francis (Mi’kmaq) “In this intimate collection of writing and art, the author invites us to explore the sacred space within. Through vision, prayer, and dream work, Francis channels messages from the ancestors to help us contemplate themes of nature, mortality, truth, and reconciliation. Eclipsing space and time, Francis words and art resonate with deep texture, hope, colour, and mastery. The result is a shimmering testament to his Mi’kmaq ancestors, and a pledge to the next generation.” – Nimbus
Seeing Red: Indigenous Land, American Expansion, and the Political Economy of Plunder in North Americaby Michael John Witgen (Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe) “…Against long odds, the Anishinaabeg resisted removal, retaining thousands of acres of their homeland in what is now Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota…In telling the stories of tribal leaders and territorial governors, mixed-race traders and missionaries, Witgen challenges our assumptions about the inevitability of U.S. expansion…” A Pulitzer Prize Finalist
