The Native Photographer Who Defies Institutional Logic

January 13, 2023

Good morning. 🌧️ With Martin Luther King Jr. Day upon us, we rounded up a list of cultural events across New York City to meaningfully observe this holiday. They range from film screenings to musical performances and activities for families.

Also today, we speak with acclaimed Native American photographer Cara Romero (Chemehuevi) about her latest body of work and her battle against the art world's colonial categorizations of Indigenous art.

There's more, including reviews of Shirley Jaffe, Lucio Fontana, a new William Eggleston catalogue, and some big news about NASA's discovery of a habitable earth-sized planet in Required Reading.

— Hakim Bishara, Senior Editor

Cara Romero Stands Defiant Against Institutional Categorization

The artist’s photographs shine a light on the unseen, resisting colonial categorization and institutional biases around art made by Indigenous artists. | Erin Joyce

SPONSORED

Study Art in Atlanta at the Ernest G. Welch School of Art & Design

Part of Georgia State University, the school offers graduate students tuition waivers, studio space, graduate assistantships, and career experiences. Learn more.

WHAT'S HAPPENING

Celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Festival at the Brooklyn Children's Museum, 2022 (photo by Winston Williams, courtesy Brooklyn Children's Museum

In observance of the three-day weekend, multiple New York City arts and culture institutions are inviting the public to come together, remember, and incorporate the messages and history of MLK Jr. as we embark on the new year.

See our selection of free and low-cost events, talks, screenings, and much more happening this weekend.

SPONSORED

New York City Ballet Art Series Presents DRIFT’s Shylight

The dancing sculpture will be on view at three special performances in January and February. Tickets are on sale now. Learn more.

EXHIBITIONS ON OUR RADAR

Lucio Fontana’s Third Dimension

Nothing was shaped or glazed by Fontana without his consideration of how light could interact, animate, or even mystify form. | Stephanie Buhmann

Shirley Jaffe’s Outlier Beginnings

A show of early works by Shirley Jaffe challenges viewers to think about the road Jaffe pursued in her art, and what it means to go your own way. | John Yau

The Dirty South Comes to Denver

Spanning generations and genres from the past 100 years, the MCA Denver’s iteration of the traveling exhibition resonates as its only non-Southern venue. | Stacy Platt

Texas Show Spotlights Brazilian Art and Activism

An exhibition at the University of Texas at Austin offers an alternative view of the nation through the lens of contemporary artists. | Lauren Moya Ford

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ESSENTIAL READS

William Eggleston’s Long Road to Recognition

A new book presents nearly 100 previously unseen photos from the artist’s influential, once-controversial body of work. | Lauren Moya Ford

Central Park Architect Frederick Law Olmsted’s Tree Politics

Photographer Stanley Greenberg’s new book takes as its subjects those aspects of Olmsted landscapes that took decades to come into their own — the trees. | Sarah Rose Sharp

Required Reading

This week, aliens might be closer than we thought, the Orange County Museum of Art is not ok, Harvard is a mess, how casteism is hurting representation in the sciences, and much more. | Hrag Vartanian and Lakshmi Rivera Amin

TRANSITIONS

Caroline Black was named executive director at the Pollock-Krasner Foundation.

Karen Cooper will step down from her role as director of Film Forum. She will be succeeded by Sonya Chung.

Regina Harsanyi was named associate curator of media arts at the Museum of the Moving Image.

Taylor Jasper was appointed assistant curator of visual arts at the Walker Art Center.

Jameson Kelleher was appointed chief operating officer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

AWARDS & ACCOLADES

The National Endowments for the Arts and the Humanities have awarded a combined $62 million in grants. Read about some of the selected projects in Hyperallergic.

Julie Mehretu was announced as the recipient of the Rees Visionary Award.

The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts has announced $4 million in grants to 48 nonprofit arts organizations. Read about them on the foundation’s website.

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