Above are my sketches that I did before the talk began. In red ink.
What does Visual Sovereignty look like? What does indigeneity mean?
These were some of the many questions that Jolene Rickard (JR) and Lucy Lippard (LL) discussed at the Santa Fe Art Institute. I think there are many answers to these questions and I continue to think about them often.
The following are just a few notes that I made while listening to the conversation.
JR: Its troubling that at venues such as the Biennale, there is a lack of recognition of indigenous space as discrete political space.
LL: How do you theorize this indigenous space?
JR: For me its been a trauma… I don’t think most Native artists would agree with me, they have sympathy with the idea that artists should fold into the larger art world. This is a form of erasure of indigenous artists.
LL: Artists first and Native second? What is indigeneity?
JR: We have land bases, we need to maintain relationships to it. There came a moment when I had to go back. I’ve worked a lifestyle where I can maintain a relationship with my community.
LL: How do we theorize indigenous art?
JR: What is the philosophical setting of our work? If the artist has a thin knowledge of their culture, than what is going back to their community? Artists have a responsibility to their communities. Often it is difficult to have the background understanding to indigenous arts, we don’t have texts that contribute to alternate understandings of indigeneity.
Afternote: JR is currently working on a book called Visual Sovereignty as well as a journal called Global Aesthetics, which will reverse the dearth of scholarship on indigenous artists.
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