TBA:19 FESTIVAL

c3: Solo exhibition Title: A Frayed Knot

Performance Title: AFRAID NOT

A Frayed Knot

Cannupa Hanska Luger

2019 solo exhibition at c3:initiative

Exhibition statement:

There is a line, that spans across time in a continuum. This line is the record of our existence and is woven into the very fabric of being. But this line, through tension or abrasion or brute force, has been cut. The edge of this line is broken and unravelling. In order to connect to ourpast we must take up that line in both hands and tie it to our present in order to guide us into the future. Our stories are a long worn line and the effort to maintain them has left an artifact of that care in the form of A Frayed Knot.

AFRAID NOT

Cannupa Hanska Luger site specific performance at c3:initiative:

AFRAID NOT performative action by artist Cannupa Hanska Luger will tie a physical line from the tools of ar-ti-fa-ct to their task.

These are not ancient artifacts.

These are not culturally specific artifacts.

These will not be found in the historical record.

These do not shine light on a lost civilization.

These were not dug from pits by devoted scholars.

These were not stolen from burial grounds.

These were not gifts from a fascinated collector.

These are not donations from friends of the museum.

These are trapped tools for our current battle.

These are made of earth to slay our earth eating monsters.

These fit in our hands.

These rest on our shoulders.

The instructions for use are embedded in our genetic memory.

These are needed now and so are we.

In this time we must remember our belonging to the earth.

We must re-establish reverence for our land, rather than resource.

We must recall the fact that we are this place.

We must fight.

We must survive.

The One Who Checks & The One Who Balances is a set of futuristic Indigenous regalia that are worn in performative actions of political resistance in support of communities whose land and culture are impacted by resource extraction, water rights, borders, and even gentrification.

Cannupa Hanska Luger is a New Mexico-based, multi-disciplinary artist. Raised on the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota, he is of Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara, Lakota, Austrian, and Norwegian descent. Using social collaboration, and in response to timely and site-specific issues, Luger produces multi-pronged projects that take many forms. Through monumental installations that incorporate ceramics, video, sound, fiber, steel, and cut-paper, Luger interweaves performance and political action to communicate stories about twenty-first century Indigeneity. This work provokes diverse publics to engage with Indigenous peoples and values apart from the lens of colonial social structuring, and oftentimes presents a call to action to protect land from capitalist exploits.

cannupahanska.com@cannupahanska