ISHI: THE ARCHIVE PERFORMANCE
Ishi: The Archive Performance was written and performed by renowned Native American visual and performance artist James Luna. In 1911, an Indian man walked into a small northern California town. His appearance inspired fright, laughter, and pity from the populace. Anthropologists came to the conclusion that Ishi was the last of his tribe and decided that for his welfare and for the advancement of science, he would love out his remaining years as a living specimen at the University of California, Berkeley’s campus museum. Based on archival work, James Luna has created a powerful exploration of Ishi’s life, silence, and the the place that he should hold in the history and cultures of California. By James Luna (Pooyukitchchum/Ipai) with Jeneen Frei Njootli (Vuntut Gwitchin)
About James Luna: Internationally renowned performance and installation artist James Luna (Puyukitchum/Luiseno) resides on the La Jolla Indian Reservation in North County San Diego, California. With over 30 years of exhibition and performance experience Luna has given voice to Native American cultural issues, pursued innovative and versatile media within his disciplines, and charted waters for other artists to follow. His powerful works transform gallery spaces into battlefields, where the audience is confronted with the nature of cultural identity, the tensions generated by cultural isolation, and the dangers of cultural misinterpretations, all from an Indigenous perspective.
Since 1975, he has had over 41 solo exhibitions, participated in 85 group exhibitions and has performed internationally at venues that include the Museum of Modern Art (NYC), Whitney Museum of American Art, New Museum of Art, San Francisco Museum of Art, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Canada, and Museum of Contemporary Native Art, Santa Fe, NM.
He has received numerous grants and awards throughout his career and most notably in 2005, he was selected as the first Sponsored Artist of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian presented at the 2005 Venice Biennale’s 51st International Art Exhibition in Venice, Italy. Most recently he was honored with an honorary doctorate IAIA.
We have worked with James Luna since 2010
February 16, 2016: ISHI: the Archive Performance at Aki Studio, Toronto. ON
February 13, 2016, PERFORMAGRAPHIC exhibition at Woodland Centre for the Arts, ON
October 2, 2015: Red Words, Conversations on Indigenous Performance, Gallery of Greater Victoria, Victoria, BC
October 2, 2015 Open Space Vicotira, BC
September 30, 2015 Camosun College, Victoria BC
September 26, 2015: LIVE Festival Victoria, BC
September 24, 2015 Emily Carr, Vancouver BC
July 13, 2015, UBCs Okanagan campus, Kelowna, BC
October 12, 2013 8pm, Urban Shaman, Winnipeg
February 28, 2013 UBCs Okanagan campus, Kelowna, BC
June 29 2012, The Sister, presented by ANDPVA, Toronto
June 23, 2012, TIFF Bell Lightbox for Home On Native Land exhibition curatedby Jesse Wente and Steve Loft, TorontoSeptember 29,2012 Epcor Centre, Calgary, Alberta, presented with Truck Contemporary Art, the Indigeneity Artist Collective Society and Mountain Standard Time Performative Art Festival for Alberta Culture Days
June 20, 2012, Ode'min Giizis Festival, Peterborough, Ontario
March 17, 2011, Neutral Ground in Regina, Saskatchewan presented by Neutral Ground, Sâkêwêwak and Tribe
March 14th, 2011, Paved Arts, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Neutral Ground, Sâkêwêwak and Tribe
October 23 2010, Tranzac Main Hall, Toronto Ontario presented by Toronto Free Gallery and Red Sky Performance with media partners imagineNATIVE and 7a*11d.
Since 1975, he has had over 41 solo exhibitions, participated in 85 group exhibitions and has performed internationally at venues that include the Museum of Modern Art (NYC), Whitney Museum of American Art, New Museum of Art, San Francisco Museum of Art, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Canada, and Museum of Contemporary Native Art, Santa Fe, NM.
He has received numerous grants and awards throughout his career and most notably in 2005, he was selected as the first Sponsored Artist of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian presented at the 2005 Venice Biennale’s 51st International Art Exhibition in Venice, Italy. Most recently he was honored with an honorary doctorate IAIA.
We have worked with James Luna since 2010
February 16, 2016: ISHI: the Archive Performance at Aki Studio, Toronto. ON
February 13, 2016, PERFORMAGRAPHIC exhibition at Woodland Centre for the Arts, ON
October 2, 2015: Red Words, Conversations on Indigenous Performance, Gallery of Greater Victoria, Victoria, BC
October 2, 2015 Open Space Vicotira, BC
September 30, 2015 Camosun College, Victoria BC
September 26, 2015: LIVE Festival Victoria, BC
September 24, 2015 Emily Carr, Vancouver BC
July 13, 2015, UBCs Okanagan campus, Kelowna, BC
October 12, 2013 8pm, Urban Shaman, Winnipeg
February 28, 2013 UBCs Okanagan campus, Kelowna, BC
June 29 2012, The Sister, presented by ANDPVA, Toronto
June 23, 2012, TIFF Bell Lightbox for Home On Native Land exhibition curatedby Jesse Wente and Steve Loft, TorontoSeptember 29,2012 Epcor Centre, Calgary, Alberta, presented with Truck Contemporary Art, the Indigeneity Artist Collective Society and Mountain Standard Time Performative Art Festival for Alberta Culture Days
June 20, 2012, Ode'min Giizis Festival, Peterborough, Ontario
March 17, 2011, Neutral Ground in Regina, Saskatchewan presented by Neutral Ground, Sâkêwêwak and Tribe
March 14th, 2011, Paved Arts, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Neutral Ground, Sâkêwêwak and Tribe
October 23 2010, Tranzac Main Hall, Toronto Ontario presented by Toronto Free Gallery and Red Sky Performance with media partners imagineNATIVE and 7a*11d.