31-01-2025
INDIGENOUS A&E: Art from fire, film stars, art ID
Sandra Hale SchulmanSpecial to ICT
The latest: A flaming reset, native movies and actors, group show offs
Art certainly imitated life for the Fire Kinship: Southern California Native Ecology and Art exhibit at The Fowler Museum at UCLA. Originally slated to open mid-January, fires tore through Los Angeles early in the month, forcing the show to delay opening until Jan. 23.
The City of Angels could have heeded the knowledge presented as it centers the living with fire expertise of Tongva, Cahuilla, Luiseño and Kumeyaay communities through objects, stories, videos, images and newly commissioned works from contemporary artists.
In a statement the museum said, 'The Fowler Museum mourns the tragic loss of life and the immense damage caused by the recent Southern California wildfires. We extend gratitude to firefighters and first responders, including tribal nations, for their heroic efforts.
'At this critical moment, Fire Kinship offers timely insights into Indigenous fire stewardship, ecological resilience, and climate change. Developed over several years, the exhibition underscores the vital role of fire as a regenerative force and honors the ancestral knowledge of Native communities. We hope its messages inspire reflection, healing, and sustainable rebuilding.'
The exhibition introduces fire as a generative force, an element that connects to the past and present and offers a collective path toward a sustainable future, challenging viewers to rethink attitudes of fear and illegality around fire.
On view through July 13, the objects, images and stories in the exhibition make a case for fire ('kút' in the Payómkawichum and Cahuilla language, ''aaw' in Kumeyaay, and 'cha'wot' in Tongva) to be seen as an elemental relative who creates a cycle that gives all living things a fresh beginning despite the initial destruction.
Included in Fire Kinship are loaned objects: baskets, ollas, rabbit sticks, bark skirts and canoes. Fire is used to harden clay vessels that are used for cooking and storing food. It cultivates plant materials and is used in the making of baskets, blankets, capes and skirts – pánul, se'ill, súul and sélet (yucca, juncus, deergrass and sumac in Wanakik Cahuilla language). Fire thins out brush patches, allowing new shoots to grow. It softens the tar that seals them and makes them seaworthy.
'Southern California Native communities are bringing fire practices back from dormancy,' said Ocampo Diaz. 'Colonization, both past and present, disrupted a cycle that honored fire at the center and caused earth-wrenching ramifications. Native communities have been holding on to these gentle burns despite California's ravaging by flames. We are all part of this story, and it is a time for listening and (un)learning.'
The Seminole Fair's Native Reel Cinema Fest will be extra bright this year with a galaxy of Native stars.
Starting with the 30th anniversary of 'Last of the Mohicans' on Saturday, Feb. 1, from 7-9 p.m., the film is a retelling of a classic novel written by James Fenimore Cooper. Set during the French and Indian War of the 1700s, Native hunters, including Russell Means, find themselves in a conflict as they protect two young daughters of a British colonel captured by Mohicans, particularly the menacing Wes Studi as Mogwa. Immediately following the film, Oscar recipient and Native veteran actor Studi will be in attendance for a Q&A panel.
In a Native Reel Cinema Fest exclusive, they will be showcasing short films from filmmakers, producers and directors from the Seminole and Miccosukee tribes of Florida. An array of films will be shown, covering different genres, from action to art house. All the crew, directors, producers and actors of the short film will be in attendance, and there will be a Q&A panel discussion after the short film block screening.
On Saturday, Feb. 1, they will screen the Emmy-winning Comanche Nation version of "Prey,' the story of Naru, a fierce and highly skilled warrior. Raised in the shadow of legendary hunters, she sets out to protect her people when alien danger threatens her camp. Emmy Award-winner and filmmaker/producer Jhane Myers will be in attendance for a Q&A immediately following the screening, fresh from premiering her latest film 'Free Leonard Peltier' at the Sundance Film Festival.
'Rezball' screens Friday, Jan. 31, from 5-7 p.m. The 2024 Netflix sports drama film follows a high school basketball team from the Navajo Nation as it competes in the state championship after losing its star player and dealing with tragedy in their community. The film stars Jessica Matten, who will be in attendance for a Q&A after the screening.
Martin Sensemeier and Gene BraveRock will also be there for photo ops.
As the last major show she ever did, an unprecedented survey of contemporary Native American art curated by Jaune Quick-to-See Smith (Confederated Salish and Kootenai Nation), who finally had a retrospective of her own in her 80s at the Whitney, opens at the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University-New Brunswick, Indigenous Identities: Here, Now & Always.
The acclaimed artist died Jan. 24, and her exhibit emphasizes her major role in defining living Native art over 100 works from beadwork and jewelry to video and painting, Indigenous Identities represents more than 50 Indigenous nations across the United States. On view from Feb. 1 to Dec. 21, the exhibition explores the facets of indigeneity.
In curating Indigenous Identities, Smith invited artists to help select the work that would represent them, and the result is expansive in the range of works presented and in the artists whose voices are included. Smith situates the work of elders, such as G. Peter Jemison, George Longfish and Hulleah Tsinhnahjinnie, alongside works by younger generations including George Alexander and Tyrrell Tapaha, and lesser-known artists along with celebrated names Jeffrey Gibson, Raven Chacon, Wendy Red Star, and Julie Buffalohead.
'For years, the media has portrayed us as a vanishing race and museums historically have ignored us. It's an interesting moment that we find ourselves in, having captured the attention of the art world. My hope with exhibitions like this one, is to place Native Americans in our contemporary present and in every possible future,' said Quick-to-See Smith. 'That means moving beyond the silos that have confined Native American art and instead embracing the infinity of Indigenous identity. This exhibition is a celebration of life.'
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