Bard College Presents Returning Home: A Contemporary Native Photography Exhibition, on View April 6–12 at Montgomery Place Mansion
Sand & Stone (2020) © Cara Romero. Courtesy of the artist. All rights reserved.
Rethinking Place: Bard-on-Mahicantuck and Montgomery Place Mansion at Bard College proudly hosts Returning Home, an exhibition curated by Rethinking Place Post-Baccalaureate Fellow Olivia Tencer ’22 and Rethinking Place Administrative Coordinator Melina Roise ’21, open from April 6 to 12, 2024. This groundbreaking exhibition features works by four contemporary Indigenous photographers, Kali Spitzer (Kaska Dena/Jewish), Dana Claxton (Wood Mountain Lakota First Nations), Cara Romero (Chemehuevi Indian Tribe), and Wendy Red Star (Apsáalooke (Crow)), along with a written commission by Bonney Hartley (Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican) and archival records of local land transfers and the United States’ Indian boarding school history. The exhibition, centered around narratives of Indigenous families, particularly women and children, will delve into the experiences of Native peoples facing settler colonialism, focusing specifically on Indigenous child removal practices and policies.
Returning Home aims to highlight Indigenous representation, narrative, survivance, futurism, and resilience through contemporary Native art. The show will include pieces from the Forge Project’s collection, as well as a written commission from Bonney Hartley, who is an MFA candidate at Institute of American Indian Arts. An accompanying publication will provide in-depth contextualization of land dispossession in the United States, forced removal of Native peoples in New York State, and the impact of Indian boarding schools.
The exhibition will fill various rooms within the historic Montgomery Place mansion, situated on Bard College’s 380-acre estate. While the estate is renowned for its ties to the Livingston family, Montgomery Place is committed to exploring marginalized histories, including the forced removal of the Stockbridge-Munsee Community and the estate’s use of enslaved African American labor.
On the exhibition, Tencer writes: “This will be the first exhibition in the mansion, and the first exhibition on campus that will discuss the forced removal of the Stockbridge-Munsee peoples on current Bard lands or the Livingston’s history as one intertwined with the land dispossession of Native people in the Hudson Valley and other land bases in the East Coast. Positioned as an intervention, Returning Home disrupts preconceived notions of Native people, specifically Native women, and makes visible purposefully erased historical narratives of land and wealth accumulation in New York State.”
“I am grateful for all the support my artwork and cultural work has received. I am indebted to the sun and my sundance teachings – mni ki wakan – water is sacred,” says artist Dana Claxton.
The exhibition is free and open to the public.
On behalf of the curators and Rethinking Place team, we would like to extend gratitude to The Mellon Foundation, Hudson Valley Greenway, Forge Project, and Montgomery Place Historic Estate for making this exhibition possible.
Exhibition Viewing Hours:
April 6 and 7, 1:00pm–5:00pm (timed entry every half hour - register here)
April 10 to 12, 1:30pm–4:00pm (timed entry every half hour - register here)
Schedule of Events:
April 6, 1:30pm: Opening Remarks & Activation, poetry reading by Bonney Hartley. Doors open at 1:00pm. Registration required. Register here.
April 6, 4:00pm: Cara Romero in conversation with Suzanne Kite. Registration required. Register here.
April 7, 3:00pm: Dana Claxton Artist Talk, on zoom, seating available at MP visitor’s center. Register for the zoom talk here.
April 10, 6:30pm: Cara Romero: Following the Light, Preston Cinema, Bard College. A short documentary on the work & practice of Cara Romero. No registration required.
Post Date: 03-20-2024
Returning Home aims to highlight Indigenous representation, narrative, survivance, futurism, and resilience through contemporary Native art. The show will include pieces from the Forge Project’s collection, as well as a written commission from Bonney Hartley, who is an MFA candidate at Institute of American Indian Arts. An accompanying publication will provide in-depth contextualization of land dispossession in the United States, forced removal of Native peoples in New York State, and the impact of Indian boarding schools.
The exhibition will fill various rooms within the historic Montgomery Place mansion, situated on Bard College’s 380-acre estate. While the estate is renowned for its ties to the Livingston family, Montgomery Place is committed to exploring marginalized histories, including the forced removal of the Stockbridge-Munsee Community and the estate’s use of enslaved African American labor.
On the exhibition, Tencer writes: “This will be the first exhibition in the mansion, and the first exhibition on campus that will discuss the forced removal of the Stockbridge-Munsee peoples on current Bard lands or the Livingston’s history as one intertwined with the land dispossession of Native people in the Hudson Valley and other land bases in the East Coast. Positioned as an intervention, Returning Home disrupts preconceived notions of Native people, specifically Native women, and makes visible purposefully erased historical narratives of land and wealth accumulation in New York State.”
“I am grateful for all the support my artwork and cultural work has received. I am indebted to the sun and my sundance teachings – mni ki wakan – water is sacred,” says artist Dana Claxton.
The exhibition is free and open to the public.
On behalf of the curators and Rethinking Place team, we would like to extend gratitude to The Mellon Foundation, Hudson Valley Greenway, Forge Project, and Montgomery Place Historic Estate for making this exhibition possible.
Exhibition Viewing Hours:
April 6 and 7, 1:00pm–5:00pm (timed entry every half hour - register here)
April 10 to 12, 1:30pm–4:00pm (timed entry every half hour - register here)
Schedule of Events:
April 6, 1:30pm: Opening Remarks & Activation, poetry reading by Bonney Hartley. Doors open at 1:00pm. Registration required. Register here.
April 6, 4:00pm: Cara Romero in conversation with Suzanne Kite. Registration required. Register here.
April 7, 3:00pm: Dana Claxton Artist Talk, on zoom, seating available at MP visitor’s center. Register for the zoom talk here.
April 10, 6:30pm: Cara Romero: Following the Light, Preston Cinema, Bard College. A short documentary on the work & practice of Cara Romero. No registration required.
Post Date: 03-20-2024