With a nod to Andy Warhol’s most raucous series, this Scottsdale exhibition of contemporary Native art explodes expectations of medium and message.
SCOTTSDALE, AZ—When Nizhonniya Austin (Diné, Tlingit) isn’t acting, most recently with Emma Stone in the acclaimed TV series The Curse; or composing, recording, and performing her music; the multidisciplinary artist is in her Santa Fe studio painting. “I am an abstract painter,” says Austin. “I started dabbling about ten years ago, with just paper and ink. It felt right. As time has gone on, I’ve created a deeper relationship with my paintings as a language or bridge connecting me through spiritual prayer with myself and with possible ancestors.”
According to Native artist Brad Kahlhamer and artist Dan Mills, who began co-curating the traveling exhibition Exploding Native Inevitable back in late 2019, Austin’s abstract compositions diverge from traditional notions of Native art due to her work’s lack of Native iconography. Not intentional, Austin says, “but it’s enough that I’m Native… I create authentic Native art.”
That’s why Kahlhamer and Mills included three of Austin’s canvases in the exhibition, which debuted last year at Bates College Museum of Art in Lewiston, Maine, where Mills is museum curator. Exploding Native Inevitable features eleven other contemporary Indigenous artists and two collaborations from across the United States. The exhibition opens at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art on August 10. Running through January 25, 2025, the exhibition will host an affiliated program on December 12 with performances, videos, and poetry.
The exhibition riffs on Andy Warhol’s series of multimedia events in 1966–67, Exploding Plastic Inevitable, which included live music, film, dance, and a magazine. Just as it was inevitable that Warhol’s venture would inspire a new world of multimedia art, so was it inevitable that contemporary Native art would surge in critical and popular attention, says Kahlhamer. “We’re presenting the next wave of contemporary Indigenous artists in a wide range of media. We’re Warhol’s contemporary update.”
Born to Indigenous parents, Kahlhamer was adopted as an infant by a German-American family. His tribal affiliation is unknown, inspiring explorations of his nationless identity through art and travels—a practice he calls his “Nomadic Studio.” His rambles down interstate highways and dirt roads across the country in search of contemporary Native artists drove Kahlhamer’s curatorial approach, he says.
When I think about my Native presence in the world, I felt like a ghost before Standing Rock. That really changed perspectives.
“I also curate from a place of curiosity, to explore and learn more,” adds Mills. “Brad was more informed than me. So, I did a deep dive into Indigenous creative work, even went down a bunch of rabbit holes, to build a more informed foundation for looking at artists.” Austin applauds Kahlhamer for “always [being] so great at asserting his contemporary presence as a Native person. And then for him to bring all of us into that with this exhibition is so important.”
The exhibition’s participants “build on cultural traditions, while pushing new creative boundaries,” Mills explains. The wall text for each piece begins with a quote from the artist, “so the viewer learns about the artist in their own words. This is a very artist-voices-forward exhibition.”
The featured artists are Austin, Norman Akers (Osage Nation), Alison Bremner (Tlingit), Jaque Fragua (Jemez Pueblo), Raven Halfmoon (Caddo Nation), Elisa Harkins (Muscogee/Creek Nation), Sky Hopinka (Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin/Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians), Terran Last Gun (Piikani/Blackfeet), Fox Maxy (Mesa Grande Band of Mission Indians and Payómkawichum), New Red Order, Mali Obomsawin (Abenaki First Nation) and Lokotah Sanborn (Penobscot), Sarah Rowe (Lakota, Ponca), Duane Slick (Meskwaki/Sauk and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa), and Tyrrell Tapaha (Diné).
Following the Scottsdale run, the exhibition travels to Sheldon Museum of Art at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, and then the Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art at Utah State University in Logan.
For Austin, being part of Exploding Native Inevitable is “an honor.” She continues, “When I think about my Native presence in the world, I felt like a ghost before Standing Rock. That really changed perspectives of who Native people are and what they represent in the world. In the last two years, people have begun seeing Native people and listening to what they have to say; the art world is doing a good job of supporting our presence and blossoming into a nurturing environment. This exhibition is a part of that; a fantastic representation of contemporary Native artists in all of our complexity.”
