American Indians of The Southwest is a three-part experimental film doused in contemporaneity and engulfed in dialectical rhetoric with an invitational observation on the current and ongoing social lifestyle of the Indigenous people in the Southwest through the eyes of FOX Maxy (Ipai/Payómkawichum), Kymon Greyhorse (Diné), and Tytianna Harris (Diné). Through this visual experience, the artists convey the misrepresentation of the evolution in the Great Basin area and how this, in turn, relates to the “architecture” and day-to-day social functionaries throughout the Southwest region. The structure, style, and method of this film challenges its viewer’s preconceived notions on Indianess, modernized sanctity, and the wild west tropes that are often portrayed in Hollywood-based media.

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Click here to access the Online Exhibition and Artist Talk.

Click here to access the press kit. 

UTA – KUYA: Back Home is a multidisciplinary installation comprising of six bodies of work ranging from photography and film, painting, sculpture, and digital renderings created by Bolivian contemporary artists, Wara Vargas Lara, Elias Huajlliri, Fatima Choque, Salvador Molina, Wara Apaza, and Nelida Condori. UTA – KUYA: Back Home explores the Imaginative theme of being able to walk without prejudice, without borders, and without a sense of time. As Indigenous contemporaries, we can easily inhabit our own worlds through a deep exploration of the past an altruistic reflection of the present. Historically, the Aymara Peoples, a large South American group Indigenous to the Altiplano, referred to the past as nayrapacha and nayra. The act of walking is indeed something quite courageous and could be held to the highest esteem of human endeavor. In fact, the Aymara referred to walking as quipnayr uñtasis sarnaqapxañani, an aphorism that declares the Homosapien urge to continuously transition through the present, while lightly observing peripheral view of the future-past. Thus, a participating in an eternal juggling act of carrying the future on one’s back all the while keeping the past in sight. This scared Aymara perception of walking can easily be interpreted as a metaphor for life.

Click here to see the works on view and artist talk. 

Click here to access the Press kit. 

Reclaiming Roots includes a collection of twelve plants indigenous to the United States that have been utilized within Native American communities for ceremonial, trade, and architectural purposes. Madeline Sanders (Mvskoke & Mojave) and Shasta Hampton (White Mountain Apache) pioneered the collection and repatriation of eternally ephemeral data that have been orally disseminated within their communities since time immemorial to then transmute the products of roots that could blossom in modernity. The digital renderings of natural products reveal how sacred elements that are often overlooked can help views reconnect to green ways of living. Over 200 drugs that have been or still are listed in the Pharmacopeia of the United States or the National Formulary were first used by Indigenous peoples, but neither reference acknowledges this fact. Thus, the tremendous benefits we’ve derived from Indigenous knowledge of native plant medicines go largely uncredited. With this in mind, it is necessary to pay homage to those who came before us and paved the path for a better future. The artists wish to center and focus our project on the importance of sustainable environments, Indigenous knowledge, and reclaiming their roots. In the 1800s, as westward expansion exposed Americans of European descent to new landscapes as well as the inevitable injuries and illnesses, Indigenous people often provided the explorers and settlers with herbal medicines that proved crucial to their survival. Today, Indigenous plants are central to improving dietary health for current generations.

Click here to view the installation and artist talk.

Click here to access the press kit.