SHARING HONORS AND BURDENS
Sharing Honors and Burdens: Renwick Invitational 2023 focuses on fresh and nuanced visions by six Native American or Alaska Native artists who express the honours and burdens that connect people to one another. The 55 artworks in the exhibition arise from traditions of making that honour family, community or clan, and require broad community participation. Six artists — Joe Feddersen (Arrow Lakes/Okanagan), Lily Hope (Tlingit), Ursala Hudson (Tlingit), Erica Lord (Athabaskan/Iñupiat), Geo Neptune (Passamaquoddy) and Maggie Thompson (Fond du Lac Ojibwe) — analyse the present moment by evoking historical practices and potential futures. Their works are often culturally specific, yet they communicate across cultural boundaries.
Image: Lily Hope, Memorial Beats, 2021. Thin-spun merino and cedar bark with copper, headphones, and audio files, 16 x 4 x 10 inches. The Hope Family Trust. © Sydney Akagi. Image above: Erica Lord, Multiple Myeloma Burden Strap, DNA/RNA Microarray Analysis, 2022. Glass beads and wire, 7 x 60 x 11/4 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Accola Griefen Fine Art. © Addison Doty.
It is the first time that artists chosen for the Renwick Invitational are all Native Americans and Alaska Natives. All are members of separate sovereign nations: Tlingit and Haida Tribes of Alaska, Nenana Native Association, Wabanaki Confederacy, Okanagan Nation, and Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa.
Image: Joe Feddersen, Fish Trap, 2021-2022, fused glass and metal, 24 x 72 x 24 inches. Courtesy of the artist. © Mario Gallucci.
The artists were selected by a panel of distinguished jurors, including Lara Evans; Miranda Belarde-Lewis (Zuni/Tlingit), independent curator and the Jill and Joe McKinstry Endowed Faculty Fellow of Native North American Indigenous Knowledge at the University of Washington’s iSchool; and Anya Montiel (Mexican/Tohono O’odham descent), curator at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian.
Image: Ursala Hudson, Tideland Warrior, 2021. Headpiece: merino, feathers and mother of pearl; shawl: merino, silk, mountain goat fur, and mother of pearl; wrap: merino, silk, leather, and Tencel, women's size 6. Courtesy of the artist.
Image: Lily Hope, Memorial Beats, 2021. Thin-spun merino and cedar bark with copper, headphones, and audio files, 16 x 4 x 10 inches. The Hope Family Trust. © Sydney Akagi. Image above: Erica Lord, Multiple Myeloma Burden Strap, DNA/RNA Microarray Analysis, 2022. Glass beads and wire, 7 x 60 x 11/4 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Accola Griefen Fine Art. © Addison Doty.
It is the first time that artists chosen for the Renwick Invitational are all Native Americans and Alaska Natives. All are members of separate sovereign nations: Tlingit and Haida Tribes of Alaska, Nenana Native Association, Wabanaki Confederacy, Okanagan Nation, and Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa.
Image: Joe Feddersen, Fish Trap, 2021-2022, fused glass and metal, 24 x 72 x 24 inches. Courtesy of the artist. © Mario Gallucci.
The artists were selected by a panel of distinguished jurors, including Lara Evans; Miranda Belarde-Lewis (Zuni/Tlingit), independent curator and the Jill and Joe McKinstry Endowed Faculty Fellow of Native North American Indigenous Knowledge at the University of Washington’s iSchool; and Anya Montiel (Mexican/Tohono O’odham descent), curator at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian.
Image: Ursala Hudson, Tideland Warrior, 2021. Headpiece: merino, feathers and mother of pearl; shawl: merino, silk, mountain goat fur, and mother of pearl; wrap: merino, silk, leather, and Tencel, women's size 6. Courtesy of the artist.
© Kahlil Hudson.
Sharing Honors and Burdens: Renwick Invitational 2023 runs until 31 March 2024. Find out more on the event website: americanart.si.edu/research/my-art/first-steps