Description

Indigenous Futurisms: Transcending Past/Present/Future investigates a major trend in Contemporary Native Art—the rise of futuristic or science-fiction inspired Native American art. The essays and artworks present the future from a Native perspective and illustrate the use of Indigenous cosmology and science as part of tribal oral history and ways of life. Several of the artists use sci-fi related themes to emphasize the importance of Futurism in Native cultures, to pass on tribal oral history and to revive their Native language. However, Indigenous Futurism also offer a way to heal from the traumas of the past and present—the post-apocalyptic narratives depicted in some of the artworks are often reality for Indigenous communities worldwide. Among the authors of Indigenous Futurisms are IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA) chief curator Dr. Manuela Well-Off-Man, Dr. David Begay (Navajo), Andrea Carlson (Ojibwe), Dr. Suzanne Newman Fricke, and Chelsea Herr (Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma).

For more information, see the Indigenous Futurisms: Transcending Past/Present/Future exhibition web page. Indigenous Futurisms was published with generous support from the Ford Foundation.