"It can be broken into the smallest chips of bone and tears.
It can be put back together with sunrise and flint."—Joy Harjo, "The Everlasting"
Sunrise and Flint brings together eleven contemporary Indigenous artists whose work reimagines history, land, memory, and resilience through Native perspectives. Inspired by Joy Harjo's vision of renewal in "The Everlasting," the exhibition considers the Earth as witness, collaborator, and living archive. Through painting, sculpture, photography, installation, and sound, this exhibition addresses colonial histories while imagining repair, survival, and interconnected futures as the United States marks its 250th anniversary.
Featured artists:
Matthew Bahe (Diné), Amanda Raquel Dorval (Nuyorican-Dominican), Chanelle Gallagher (Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe), Hock E Aye Vi Edgar Heap of Birds (Cheyenne and Arapaho), Victoria Hubbard (Mescalero Apache), David Johns (Diné), Tom Jones (Ho-Chunk), Armond Lara (Diné), Warren Realrider (Pâri and Apsáalooke), Mikaela Shafer (Hopi), and Ryle Yazzie (Diné)
Zane Bennett thanks all the artists; Taylor Rose Payer (Turtle Mountain Anishinaabe) for her curation of Be Held at the Institute of American Indian Arts, from which a number of works are featured in Sunrise and Flint; and Mario Caro, director of the MFA Program at IAIA.