Jeffrey Gibson (Choctaw and Cherokee), The Anthropophagic Effect, Garment no. 2, 2019, canvas, cotton, vinyl, brass grommets, nylon thread, artificial sinew, dried pear gourds, copper jingles, glass and plastic beads, and nylon ribbon, 58 x 72”. © Jeffrey Gibson. Photography by Jason Wyche.
San Antonio Museum of Art
In late 2020, the San Antonio Museum of Art announced its summer and fall contemporary art acquisitions, and the list of works included two pieces by Native American artists: a colorful shirt made by Choctaw and Cherokee artist Jeffrey Gibson, and a work featuring four aluminum panels made to look like parking signs that evoke the Trail of Tears by Cheyenne and Arapaho artist Hock E Aye Vi Edgar Heap of Birds.
The two works represent the first artworks by Native American artists in the SAMA permanent collection.
On the Gibson piece, the museum notes: “Through his multidisciplinary practice, Jeffrey Gibson explores and redresses the exclusion and erasure of Indigenous histories and artistic traditions. He often employs a hybrid approach that mixes references from popular culture, queer iconography, and contemporary political issues, exploring the complexity and fluidity of identity. The mixed-media work The Anthropophagic Effect, Garment no. 2 was created during a 2019 residency at the New Museum during which Gibson researched the Indigenous techniques of river cane basket weaving, birch bark biting and porcupine quillwork, which he incorporated into his work. The series speaks to the concept of anthropophagy as a cultural cannibalism in which Indigenous cultures might consume Western or White dominance to create a new visual tradition. The work builds on garment works that Gibson began making in 2018 that are inspired by Ghost Dance movement of the Paiute people.”
The works are now on view at the Texas museum.
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