Cover Image: Shelley Niro. The Show Off, digital image, 2017.
Courtesy of the Artist.
“Red Skin Dreams”: Twenty Years of Curating Indigenous Art at the Venice Biennale
University of Nebraska Press, Matt Bokovoy, Senior Acquisitions Editor
PRE-ORDER from University of Nebraska Press HERE
“Red Skin Dreams” documents and theorizes the presentation of contemporary American Indian art exhibits at the Venice Biennale from 1997-2017. The story is conveyed through memoir and storytelling as I document the nine exhibits I helped to lead over a twenty-year period. The improbable and messy business of staging international exhibits that were non-institutional, non-commercial and anti-hierarchical involved collaborators from across the globe—Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, England, Norway, Germany, as well as Italy. These connections were made through Indigenous networks, institutions, and relationships, not the prestigious galleries, museums and art collectors that typically decide who is represented and where. Our presence-making exposed the fiction that only those “in the middle of things” had access to exhibition.
Instagram page for book @redskindreamsthebook
Ode to Harry is a piece I produced on the death of my dear friend, artist Harry Fonseca (1946-2006). The visuals are by the fantastic filmmaker Gabe Shaw and were taped on site in Venice, Italy during the Venice Biennale exhibit "Ceremonial" in 1999. The amazing music is by Matthew Andrae. The piece was shown at Harry's funeral in Santa Fe, NM. To watch the video, go to the page on this website Ode to Harry or watch on Vimeo: vimeo.com/464022919
Ceremonial - Contemporary Native Art Exhibition, 1999 Venice Biennale.
Video by Gabriel Lopez Shaw. Including original music by Matthew Andrae.