Nicholas Galanin

Nicholas Galanin (pronounced gah-LANN-in) is a Tlingit/Unangax̂ multi-disciplinary artist and musician from Alaska.[4] His work often explores a dialogue of change and identity between Native and non-Native communities.

Nicholas Galanin
Nicholas Galanin in May 2011
Born1979
Sitka, Alaska
NationalitySitka Tribe of Alaska (American)
EducationBFA London Guildhall University, MFA Massey University
Notable work
"Things are Looking Native, Native's Looking Whiter", "Tsu Heidei Shugaxtutaan (We Will Again Open This Container of Wisdom That Has Been Left in Our Care)", "What Have We Become? Vol.3"
Awards2014 Rasmuson Foundation fellowship award recipient,[1] Eiteljorg Contemporary Art Fellowship.[2] United States Artists Fellowship[3]
Websitehttp://galan.in/

Background

Nicholas Galanin was born in Sitka, Alaska, in 1979. As a young boy, he learned to work with jewelry and light metals from his father. At London Guildhall University in England, he learned silversmithing and received a bachelor of fine arts.[5] He then received a Masters of Fine Arts in indigenous visual arts at Massey University in New Zealand.

Artworks

Tsu Heidei Shugaxtutaan

Tsu Heidei Shugaxtutaan: Part 1 Tsu Heidei Shugaxtutaan:Part 2
2006. video. Peabody Essex Museum, Salem

Tsu Heidei Shugaxtutaan (We Will Again Open This Container of Wisdom That Has Been Left in Our Care) is a two-part, looping video mixes classic Tlingit dance and music with contemporary mainstream dance and music. In the first video, a dancer (David Elsewhere) pops to a customary Tlingit song. In the second, a Tlingit dancer in customary regalia dances to a sparse electronic groove. The Tlingit song contains the words used in the title of the piece, "Tsu Heidei Shugaxtutaan" pronounced "soo HAYdee shoe GAK tu tahn."

Things are Looking Native, Native's Looking Whiter

Things are Looking Native, Native’s Looking Whiter (2012) is a photographic print that splits and combines two photographs. One half an unnamed Hopi-Tewa girl with a butterfly hairstyle and the other half depicts Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia with her classic cinnamon roll hair style[6]. Nicholas Galanin took neither photograph, though he is the artist who combined the two images.[7] Instead, the half that depicts the Hopi-Tewa girl was taken by Edward S. Curtis in 1921 (A Tewa Girl). Things are Looking Native, Native’s Looking Whiter shows two females that appear to have a similar look but one is idealized and glorified while the other is not even named. Galanin, in his interview with the Reno Gazette Journal, argues that Curtis’ 40,000 photos of 80 Native American tribes was “stereotyping and romanticizing the indigenous people.”[8] In the interview, it is clear that Galanin aims to enlighten his viewers (by using the photo of a white woman and a romanticized photo of an indigenous woman) about appropriation [9].  "I challenge those who view or listen to my work to consider that Indigenous people are not contained by colonial mechanisms designed to erase our existence through continually narrowing categories of Indian-ness." https://walkerart.org/magazine/nicholas-galanin-indigenous-art-contemporary-traditional

References
  1. Stalzer, Cassandra. "Shumaker named the 2014 Rasmuson Foundation Distinguished Artist". Rasmuson Foundation. Archived from the original on 14 May 2014. Retrieved 14 May 2014.
  2. Haugland, Shannon (February 5, 2013). "Sitka Native Artist Gets $25K Museum Grant". Daily Sitka Sentinel. Retrieved May 3, 2014.
  3. Dunham, Mike (December 3, 2012). "Sitka artist wins $50,000 national award". Anchorage Daily News. Archived from the original on May 4, 2014. Retrieved May 3, 2014.
  4. Ace, Barry. "Nicholas Galanin". Museum of Contemporary Native Arts. Retrieved May 3, 2014.
  5. Sanchez, Casey. "Culture Shock Value". The Free Library. Retrieved May 3, 2014.
  6. Lakewood, Vanessa (September 5 – December 8, 2018). "I continue to shape".CS1 maint: date format (link)
  7. "Things are Looking Native, Native's Looking Whiter".
  8. Kane, Jenny (December 6, 2017). "The story behind this stunning photo at Nevada Museum of Art".
  9. Kane, Jenny (December 6, 2017). "The story behind this stunning photo at Nevada Museum of Art".

11. Galanin, Nicholas (March 28, 2018)."Out of Line: Nicholas Galanin Rejects the Traditional/Contemporary Binary"

Further reading
  • Kramer Russel, Karen. Shapeshifting: Transforming in Native American Art. Peabody Essex Museum in association with Yale University Press. 2012.
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