“Scream until you can’t breathe” in Nicholas Galanin’s Interference Patterns at SITE Santa Fe
SITE Santa Fe
October 24, 2023
An expansive solo exhibition by the multidisciplinary Tlingit and Unangax̂ artist centers Indigenous perspectives and aims to boldly disrupt colonial narratives.
Nicholas Galanin: Interference Patterns presents a selection of the artist’s new and recent sculptures, installations, and videos celebrating Indigenous knowledge and continuum amid ongoing colonial occupation. Examining the complexities of contemporary Indigenous identity, Galanin unites traditional and contemporary practices to navigate “the politics of cultural representation.”
"I use my work to explore adaptation, resilience, survival, dream, memory, cultural resurgence, and connection and disconnection to the Land. My process of creation is a constant pursuit of freedom and vision for the present and future."
-Nicholas Galanin
Through his expansive creative approach spanning varied materials and processes, Galanin presses for an urgent change of heart, mind, and action, on a global scale. Central to the exhibition is the newly commissioned Neon American Anthem (red), a participatory installation that invites audiences to “take a knee and scream until you can’t breathe” in response to legislated violence and oppression by the United States on those within and beyond its borders.
Embedding incisive observation and reflection into his oftentimes provocative art, Galanin’s work aims to redress the widespread misappropriation of Indigenous visual culture and the impact of colonialism, as well as collective amnesia. His works not only celebrate and build upon Indigenous references; they are also intended to spark an urgent criticality in its viewers. Interference Patterns at SITE Santa Fe in New Mexico hopes to offer vital space for reflection on settler-colonial capitalism’s ongoing role in cultural erasure, forced assimilation, displacement, environmental violence, and the climate crisis.