"Must See: It Flows Through"
By Artforum
May 7, 2022
Nicholas Galanin (b. 1979, Sitka, Alaska) works at the intersection of conceptual and material practice, rooted in his Tlingit and Unangax̂ culture. Applying his creative agency in diverse media, Galanin celebrates cultural continuum, contradicts colonialism, and fights cultural erasure. Commenting on the exhibition, It Flows Through, he writes:
“The exhibition speaks to persistence. The persistence of our connections to land and culture through continuum and memory, flowing through us, embedded in our bodies, our languages, and our art. These connections flow like water in varied ways, from gentle imperceptible movements to sudden forces, each capable of moving, shaping, and wearing down stone.”
This determination is related through the highly visible and unapologetically Indigenous presence of the work that creates conversations of possibilities alongside refusals. The exhibition aims to elicit reactions to Indigenous persistence and prominence, and the way this is met: whether it is ignored, imagined, used, or punished.