Opening Reception, Darrah Blackwater Allocations: Self-Determination From Inside the Earth, Outward

ARTIST RECEPTION FRIDAY, March 20, 2026 | 5-7 PM | EXHIBITION IS ON VIEW THROUGH SATURDAY, April 11, 2026 AT HSFF’S EL ZAGUÁN, 545 CANYON ROAD, SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO

Allocations: Self-Determination From Inside the Earth, Outward is Darrah Blackwater’s first solo show. Focusing on multiple facets of how United States laws and policies have impacted and affected the ability of Indigenous nations and Indigenous people to determine their lives and their futures, this show focuses on the concept of spectrum sovereignty, or the use and control of radio waves on tribal lands.

This issue epitomizes the importance of self-determination for Indigenous nations in the modern era, as wireless communications affect the everyday lives of Americans, including Indigenous people living on reservations. Similarly, the Dawes Act, the Indian Child Welfare Act and the issue of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives are examples of how, over centuries, the United States has attempted or failed to acknowledge or protect the rights of Indigenous peoples through “allocations” of land, children, and respect.

Allocations: From Inside the Earth Outward challenges the scarcity reality that colonization has imposed on Indigenous communities by examining the concept of different allocations of rights and resources the United States has made to Tribes and Indigenous people. Further, this show raises the questions of who has the right to make these allocations to Indigenous nations, and whether an allocation is.

Darrah Blackwater is an artist and attorney, originally from Farmington, New Mexico. She is a citizen of the Navajo Nation, and focuses much of her work on advocating for the rights of Indigenous people, with an emphasis on Indigenous spectrum sovereignty, or the right for Indigenous people to own and control radio waves on tribal lands.

Contact: Anne Kelly at anne@historicsantafe.org or call 505.983.2567 for more information.