DOUBLE VISION Exhibit Opens At Great Plains Gallery 1/7

The Great Plains Art Museum at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln will host "Double Vision: New Works by Hulleah J. Tsinhnahjinnie" Jan. 7 through March 27.

Guest-curated by Veronica L. Passalacqua, curator of the C.N. Gorman Museum at the University of California, Davis, the exhibition employs photographic items from the museum's Permanent Collection to create new works of digital collage by Hulleah J. Tsinhnahjinnie.

Tsinhnahjinnie was born into the Bear and Raccoon clans of the Seminole and Muscogee nations, and born for the Tsinajinnie Clan of the Dine Nation. Exhibited nationally and internationally, photography is one of her primary modes of creative expressions. Tsinhnahjinnie's work in this series draws on the artist's native authority, incorporating vintage photographs of indigenous people. By reclaiming these images through her own expressions, she is creating a new document grounded in a native perspective.

Tsinhnahjinnie has been a recipient of the Eiteljorg Fellowship for Native American Fine Art, a Chancellor's Fellowship at the University of California, Irvine, the First Peoples Community Artist Award, and a Rockefeller artist in residence. She is director of the Gorman Museum and assistant professor in the Department of Native American Studies at UC Davis.

Passalacqua will deliver the 2011 Geske Lecture dealing with Tsinhnahjinnie's work at 7 p.m. Jan. 31. Her talk, "Archival Encounters," will be in the Sheldon Museum of Art's Ethel S. Abbott Auditorium, 12th and R streets, and is free and open to the public. A reception will follow the lecture in the Sheldon's Great Hall.

For more than 30 years, the Gorman Museum has been dedicated to the creative expressions of Native American and artists of diverse cultures and histories. The museum's reputation of artistic excellence is proven by its company of exhibiting artists, including some of the most established native artists, as well as the next generation of emerging indigenous artists.

A writer, curator and scholar of Native North American art for the past 15 years, Passalacqua earned her bachelor's degree from Harvard University and her master's degree in museum studies from Oxford University. She has submitted her doctorate in museum studies from Oxford University, where her thesis examines political lens-based artworks by contemporary Native North American artists.

"We are absolutely thrilled to be hosting this exciting collaboration," said Amber Mohr, curator of the Great Plains Art Museum. "I've long admired Veronica Passalacqua's scholarship, particularly her pioneering discussions on visual sovereignty. Bringing new works by Hulleah J. Tsinhnahjinnie, working with unique vintage items from our Permanent Collection, is placing the Great Plains Art Museum on the cutting edge of contemporary indigenous arts. Tsinhnahjinnie's work is tough. She twists the knife. It's exhilarating to be presenting such a strong visual voice to our audience."

"Double Vision" runs concurrently with an exhibition from the Great Plains Art Museum's Permanent Collection, guest-curated by Kimberly Minor titled "Ceremonial Dancing and Collaborative Spirits: Modern Native American Art."

The Great Plains Art Museum, 1155 Q St., Hewit Place, is open to the public 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 1:30-5 p.m. Sundays (closed Mondays, holiday weekends and between exhibitions). There is no admission charge. For more information, telephone (402) 472-6220, e-mail gpac2@unl.edu, visit www.unl.edu/plains/gallery/gallery.shtml, or contact Mohr at (402) 472-0599 or amohr2@unl.edu. For information on the Geske Lectureship, contact the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts at (402) 472-9339 or visit www.unl.edu/finearts/programs/geske.

 

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