In the wake of Black Lives Matter and national calls for a critical examination of governmental power structures, monuments celebrating and memorializing Spanish conquistadors are being removed across the nation, including several in New Mexico. While many celebrate their removal, seeing their presence as a glorification of colonialism, others argue that this constitute an erasure of cultural identity.
The School for Advanced Research and the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture are proud to partner on this important gathering as we consider the transnational implications of this topic while remaining rooted in the indigenous histories, people, and land that shape our work.
Messages + Monuments explores these events and their context in relation to not only a local, but also a national, and international scale. Through a virtual panel discussion, this event explores the historical context of monumental sculpture and what they represent, our current tumultuous present, and what all of this could mean for the future. Community participation and discussion will be encouraged in a live Q&A.
Moderator: Dario Colmenares Millán is Program Director for the Global Transitional Justice Initiative, the International Coalition of Site of Conscience’s flagship program on transitional justice.
Panelists:
Kirsten Pai Buick is a professor of art history History and Associate Dean of Equity and Excellence for the College of Fine Arts at the University of New Mexico.
Jason Garcia (Okuu Pin) does what great artists have been doing since the beginning of time: he carefully examines and interprets life around him and then shares those uniquely personal observations with the rest of the world. In his finished work—most often clay tiles that are created in the traditional Pueblo way with hand-gathered clay, native clay slips and outdoor firings — he transforms materials closely connected to the earth into a visually rich mix of Pueblo history and culture, comic book super heroes, video game characters, religious icons and all things pop culture.
Jean M. O’Brien (citizen, White Earth Ojibwe Nation) is Distinguished McKnight University Professor and Northrop Professor at the University of Minnesota. She is one of six co-founders and is past president of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association and inaugural co-editor (with Robert Warrior) of the association’s journal, Native American and Indigenous Studies
Learn more about the School for Advanced Research: sarweb.org
Learn more about the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture: miaclab.org
