Exhibition

Past/Present/Future: Expanding Indigenous American, Latinx, Hispanic American, Asian American, and Pacific Islander Perspectives in Thomas J. Watson Library

September 22, 2022–January 3, 2023
Free with Museum admission

Confronting the Past

The first part of this exhibition highlights Latinx and Hispanic American artists who grapple with the consequences of white-settler colonialism in the Americas. Whether imbuing their contemporary practice with imagery from the pre-Hispanic past, embracing native materials and techniques, disrupting traditionally white media to include alternative narratives, or reimagining historical events through their own modern lens, these artists situate their work within a historic continuum that not only engages but activates the past to tell new stories about what it means to be inheritors and stewards of this cultural heritage. Much of the work within these pages lends a critical eye to Spanish Colonialism of the early modern age, imperialism and intervention, and border and immigration policies of the United States. These artists embrace their identities but challenge the events of the past in hopes of presenting a new pathway toward a better future.

Selected Artworks

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Counter Colón-ialismo
1992
Nicolás De Jesús : a Mexican artist for global justice, Nicolás de Jesús  Mexican
Nicolás de Jesús (Mexican, born 1960)
2022
Vírgenes urbanas, Ana de Orbegoso  Peruvian
Ana de Orbegoso (Peruvian, born 1964)
2007
The Puerto Rican war, John Vasquez Mejias  American
John Vasquez Mejias (American)
2020
Venus envy : chapters I-IV, Amalia Mesa-Bains  American
Amalia Mesa-Bains (American, born Santa Clara, California 1943)
2022
Tetlacatl, Jorge Garza  American
Jorge Garza (American)
2020
Tetlacatl, Jorge Garza  American
Jorge Garza (American)
2020
Do EAST!, Puro Chingón Collective
Puro Chingón Collective
2012-
Chingozine : [no. 5], Puro Chingón Collective
Puro Chingón Collective
2012-
Chingozine : [no. 6.5], Puro Chingón Collective
Puro Chingón Collective
2012-
Chingozine : [no. 7.5], Puro Chingón Collective
Puro Chingón Collective
2012-
Escape from Fantasylandia : an illegal alien's survival guide, Enrique Chagoya  American
Enrique Chagoya (American, born Mexico 1953)
2011
Rimer Cardillo : a journey to Ombú Bellaumbra, Rimer Cardillo  Uruguayan
Rimer Cardillo (Uruguayan, born 1944)
2016
Roberto Lugo : ghetto is resourceful, Roberto Lugo  American
Roberto Lugo (American, born Philadelphia 1981)
2019?
Ma' conch't do't nub't = El caparazón en las nubes = The shell in the clouds, Pável Acevedo  Mexican
Pável Acevedo (Mexican, born Oaxaca 1984)
2022
Souvenirs, Sandra C. Fernández  American
Sandra C. Fernández (American, born 1964)
2008

Collected Presence

This section features a selection of books by or about Asian American and Pacific Islander artists whose works respond to archival materials or serve as records themselves. The range of what each artist collects and presents is wide, from the history of one's migration or of a family's survival; portraits of daily life, commemorated icons, and ghosts; to landscapes of inheritance and becoming. Yet the basis for their works stems from a shared desire and responsibility for the narratives of their own lived experiences. Although the acts of collecting, recollecting, and reconstructing memories, heritages, and traditions may foreground the artists' identities as Asian American or Pacific Islander, they are done so on the artists’ own terms.

What are our terms, then, in assessing, acquiring, and presenting these artists as categorized by the United States Census Bureau? How do we comprehend and not be complicit in the very constructs that required these artists to risk being objectified, tokenized, or discovered for putting forth their perspectives?

Selected Artworks

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Allan deSouza, Yong Soon Min, AlterNatives : April 4-June 15, 1997, Allan DeSouza
Multiple artists/makers
1997
Blueprints, Jesse Chun
Jesse Chun
2017
Texas long grain : photographs, Kearny Street Workshop
Kearny Street Workshop (founded 1972)
1982
Nā wahi pana ʻo Koʻolau Poko, Anne Kapulani Landgraf  American
Anne Kapulani Landgraf (American, born 1966)
1994
Silent stories, Angel Velasco Shaw
Angel Velasco Shaw
1985
Roger Shimomura : an American diary, Roger Shimomura  American
Roger Shimomura (American, born Seattle 1939)
1999
Din Kyū Re ten : asu eno kioku, Dinh Q. Lê  American
Dinh Q. Lê (American, born Hà Tiên, Vietnam, 1968)
2015
Ghosts : seventy portraits, Hung Liu  American
Hung Liu (American (born China), Changchun 1948–2021 Oakland, California)
2020
Dong Kingman : an American master, Dong Kingman  American
Dong Kingman (American, Oakland, California 1911–2000 New York)
2000
Queer power! : a time travelling coloring book, Chitra Ganesh  American
Chitra Ganesh (American, born Brooklyn, 1975)
2021
A is for Arab : archiving stereotypes in U.S. popular culture, John Kuo Wei Tchen
Multiple artists/makers
2012

Indigenous Futurism

Coined by Anishinaabe professor Dr. Grace Dillon in 2003 with the term later appearing in her book Walking the Clouds: An Anthology of Indigenous Science Fiction (2012), Indigenous Futurism is an artistic movement that reimagines the past and considers the future possibilities of Indigenous peoples. Like the Afrofuturist movement, Indigenous Futurism involves various forms of media, including visual arts, graphic novels, literature, and video games.

Indigenous Futurists create works that intersect Native culture with themes of science fiction and nonlinear concepts of time, including alternate histories in which Native societies have been untouched by colonialism, time travel, multiverses, and apocalyptic futures. The movement often intersects with well-known pop cultural references, such as Star Wars, as vehicles for traditional Native imagery and stories. It also offers an outlet for dealing with past collective traumas.

The publications in this section relate to the Indigenous Futurism movement or feature the work of artists who have identified as Indigenous Futurists. These books have all been published recently, with the earliest title published in 2015 but most having been published within the last three years. This selection also includes several catalogs that accompanied art exhibitions exploring Indigenous Futurist themes.

Selected Artworks

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Indigenous futurisms : transcending past/present/future, IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts
IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts
2020
Skawennati : from SkyWorld to cyberspace, Skawennati Tricia Fragnito  Mohawk
Skawennati Tricia Fragnito (Mohawk, born 1969)
McIntosh Gallery
2019
Neal Ambrose Smith :  C cen u kwes xwuyi (where are you going?), Neal Ambrose-Smith  American
Neal Ambrose-Smith (American, born Texas, 1966)
Missoula Art Museum
2021
The force is with our people, Museum of Northern Arizona
Museum of Northern Arizona
Star Wallowing Bull : transformer, Plains Art Museum
Plains Art Museum
Star Wallowing Bull (American, born 1973)
2015
When raven became spider, Dunlop Art Gallery
Dunlop Art Gallery
2017
First American art magazine, America Meredith  Cherokee Nation
America Meredith (Cherokee Nation, born 1972)
2017
Wendy Red Star : delegation, Wendy Red Star  American
Wendy Red Star (Apsáalooke/Crow, born Billings, Montana, 1981)
Aperture
2022
Jeffrey Gibson : it can be said of them / editor: Siobhan Bradley, Jeffrey Gibson
Multiple artists/makers
2021
Virgil Ortiz : revolution / Charles S. King, Charles S. King  American
Multiple artists/makers
2021
Nicholas Galanin : let them enter dancing and showing their faces = Yéil Ya-Tseen : neil has ya̲xdaxoon, Nicholas Galanin
Nicholas Galanin (Tlingit and Unangax̂born, born Sitka, Alaska, 1979)
Minor Matters Books
2020
The future imaginary in Indigenous North American arts and literatures, Kristina Baudemann
Kristina Baudemann
2022

Shared Grounds

Thomas J. Watson Library resides in Manahatta of Lenapehoking, the homeland of the Lenape diaspora and a place for gathering and trading for many diverse Native peoples. Today our site is better recognized by the name Manhattan, one of the five boroughs of New York City that has been notably claimed home by countless immigrants since the first Dutch settlement in 1664. In “Shared Grounds,” the library acknowledges its presence and participation in this history and in the continuing narrative of colonial settlement. Featuring works by Latinx, Hispanic American, Asian American, Pacific Islander, and Indigenous artists, the publications in this section are united in their shared engagement with the land. Together they shed light on the overlapping histories and common experiences of the diverse communities that occupy the territories on which the United States exists. Using land as a concept, framework, or subject, these artists tackle issues of land use and sovereignty, the transformation of the landscape due to climate change, and movement and migration across physical and political borders to explore and challenge existing definitions of what it is to be American.

Selected Artworks

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Never forget / Yéil Ya-Tseen = Nicholas Galanin, Nicholas Galanin
Nicholas Galanin (Tlingit and Unangax̂born, born Sitka, Alaska, 1979)
Minor Matters Books
2021
Atomic sublime : the atom, the sublime, and the American Southwest, Lovely Umayam  American
Lovely Umayam (American)
Tammy Nguyen (American, born San Francisco, California, 1984)
2019
Sandy Rodriguez : Codex Rodriguez-Mondragón, Sandy Rodriguez  American
Sandy Rodriguez (American, born National City, California, 1975)
2018
Carpe fin : a Haida manga, Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas  Canadian
Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas (Canadian, born Masset, Haida Gwaii, 1954)
Douglas and McIntyre
2019
On contested terrain : An-My Lê, An-My Lê  American, born Vietnam
An-My Lê (American, born Saigon, 1960)
Dan Leers
2020
Creating Aztlán : Chicano art, indigenous sovereignty, and lowriding across Turtle Island, Dylan A. T. Miner  American
Dylan A. T. Miner
2014
Pilina everlasting, Allison Milham  American
Allison Milham (American)
2022