Inuk Silis Høegh, The Green Land, 2011, film installation, 34min. Photo courtesy of the artist

The public opening will take place February 2 from 5–7 pm, with a special member-only preview with light hors d’oeuvres and spirits from 4–5 pm. On February 1 from 3–4:30 pm, join us for an artist talk with Inuk Silis Høegh in the Anne and Loren Kieve Gallery. Høegh and MoCNA Chief Curator Manuela Well-Off-Man will discuss Høegh’s latest works on display and how he often resamples common conceptions and materials in a tongue-in-cheek tone, commenting on feelings of alienation and powerlessness.

Inuk Silis Høegh: Arctic Vertigo

Inuk Silis Høegh: Arctic Vertigo analyzes the Inuit artist’s experimental and interdisciplinary art practices. Høegh’s art contributes to the revival of Greenland’s spirit of independence from Danish colonialism and reflects the country’s new identity. An award-winning filmmaker, Høegh challenges stereotypes about Inuit, chronicles Greenland’s way to self-government, and addresses environmental issues the country is facing.

Based in Nuuk, Greenland, Inuk Silis Høegh (Danish-Kalaallit) was born in 1972 in Qaqortoq, Greenland. He graduated from the Royal Danish Art Academy in 2010. His work has been shown in Greenland, Denmark, France, Iceland, Finland, Latvia, and Germany, and his short films and documentaries have been on TV and at film festivals all around the globe.

The IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA) will debut his film installation The Green Land in the US. The Green Land connects land art and film to investigate Greenland’s monumental nature at a time when it is undergoing drastic changes. The exhibition will also include Høegh’s documentary Sumé: The Sound of a Revolution (2014), about the progressive Inuit rock band Sumé; a new edition of his installation Taanna (2013), which, in its original version, put poems and prayers in bottles through a “melting machine” constructed from objects found on a beach in Greenland. His Audio Abstractions visualize the tranquil sounds of the Arctic in spectrograms accompanied by audio experiences. Inspired by traditional Greenlandic carved figures, some of his Angutit sculptures include elements of toy action figures, uniting the narratives of both worlds.

Womb of the Earth: Cosmovision of the Rainforest

AMITIKATXI (Tiriyó, Katxuyana and Txikiyana women artists), The Forest is Our Future, which Makes us Grow, 2021, beads, fabric 64”x 61”. Photo courtesy of Anita Ekman.

Through Womb of the Earth: Cosmovisions of the Rainforest, Brazilian Indigenous female artists share their art with a wider audience and voice their concerns about the challenges their communities face. These artists live in the Amazon and Atlantic Rainforest, and unlike their urban artist peers, they don’t have access to art galleries or museums. Their artworks illustrate threats to their life, culture, and homeland through deforestation, illegal mining, agriculture and infrastructure developments, violations of cultural rights, and lack of access to justice. Womb of the Earth explores these communities’ cosmovision, the importance of Brazil’s rainforests (one of the world’s most biodiverse regions) for area communities’ physical and cultural survival, as well as the role of female artists in the struggle to preserve their homeland. The exhibition is co-curated by Brazilian Indigenous curator Cristine Takuá (Maxakali) and artist/curator Anita Ekman, in consultation with Sandra Benites (Guarani Nhandeva), and introduces three Indigenous female artist collectives. Among them are Assurini (Awaete) artists, who render traditional female body painting patterns in acrylic on fabric. What unites many of these artworks is the artists’ interest in the close relationship between the human body/soul and surrounding nature, expressed through paintings, ceramics, and fiber art. In many Brazilian Indigenous cultures’ belief systems, the rainforest is the origin of life on earth—protecting it is a key subject in these women’s art.

For more information, please contact IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA) Chief Curator Manuela Well-Off-Man at manuela.well-off-man@iaia.edu.