Opening Reception: Thursday, October 24 from 4:30-6:30pm
Given Time: Sensory Aesthetics of Reclamation explored Indigenous relationships to land and the ways those relationships intersect with sovereignty, environmental sustainability, colonialism, and identity. The exhibition presented four films by contemporary Native artists alongside select objects from the Center of Southwest Studies' museum collections that complemented and expanded upon the themes explored in the films.
Guest curated by Megan Alvarado-Saggese, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Native American and Indigenous Studies at Fort Lewis College, the exhibition featured works by Angelo Baca (Hopi/Diné), Sky Hopinka (Ho-Chunk Nation/Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians), and the collaborative artist collective New Red Order, including Jackson Polys (Tlingit), Zack Khalil (Ojibwe), and Adam Khalil (Ojibwe).
Given Time marked a significant milestone for the Center by presenting moving image as the primary medium within the museum's gallery space for the first time. The works foregrounded Indigenous voices and knowledge systems through personal and shared histories, demonstrating how film can serve as a powerful form of storytelling that immerses viewers in the artists' perspectives, memories, and lived experiences.
Featuring films by:
Featuring works from the Center’s museum collections by:
About the Guest Curator
Dr. Megan Alvarado-Saggese is an Assistant Professor of Native American and Indigenous Studies at Fort Lewis College. Her teaching and research focus on Indigenous artistic practice in the Americas, bringing Latin American Indigenous visual cultures into conversation with Native American scholarship. Taking a hemispheric approach to Indigenous studies, Dr. Alvarado-Saggese looks at intersections and resonances within Indigenous intellectual thought and strategies of resistance across the Americas. She is currently engaged in a research project that critically reconsiders the political influence of indigenismo on Latin American modernist art.
Exhibition materials designed by Olivia Perea (FLC Studio Art major) and Keeshaun Chee (FLC Communication Design Major).
Given Time: Sensory Aesthetics of Reclamation was made possible with a generous grant from the City of Durango Arts & Culture Lodger’s Tax Fund.