Demian Diné Yazhi' BFA Thesis Fall 2013

BURY MY ART AT WOUNDED KNEE: Blood & Guts in the Art School Industrial Complex

Bury My Art At Wounded Knee: Blood & Guts in the Art School Industrial Complex is a Native north american exhibition that celebrates contemporary Indigenous art production on and off the imaginary boundaries of modern day Indian Reservations.
Through visual, written, & speech-based forms of cultural representation, Bury My Art At Wounded Knee aims to explore and challenge contemporary notions of Native art. The main objective of the exhibition is to acknowledge Indigenous resistance through the origins of the American Indian Movement (A.I.M.), Native north american political art, survivance, & present day issues in Native america. It is dedicated to the long legacy of Native north american artists, warriors, activists, writers, & visionaries, in order to provide an adaptable platform for future exhibitions, projects, manifestations, awareness & uprising.

Bury My Art At Wounded Knee is an exhibition about language & endurance, validation & resistance, and an unavoidable & crucial conversation in a city that is predominantly white; more importantly, in an institution that lacks culturally diverse perspectives in art production and history-making. Blood & Guts in the Art School Industrial Complex references the four years in which I attended Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA). In these four years there has not been an exhibition dedicated to the Indigenous peoples of this continent. Furthermore, there has not been a course dedicated to Indigenous art, history, writing, lived experience, or otherwise. When expressing my frustrations with this, I was told sometimes “we”—I took this as people with a history of oppression, forced assimilation, & genocide—need to bring water to a village in need. Thankfully, I don’t think that way. It is my hope this show has brought on the rain.

: R.I.S.E.: Radical Indigenous Survivance & Empowerment. :

Established in 2010, through a heightened awareness of the atrocities that have resulted from patriarchal colonization. The seeds of the collective have been planted firmly in the ground since the onslaught of european madness. At its foundation, R.I.S.E. is inv¬ested in the education, perseverance, & dissemination of Native north american art, activism, writing, history, storytelling & lived experience. R.I.S.E. is a call to action yielding multiple tools including photographs, paint, wheatpaste, clay, beadwork, dancing, words, voices, sounds, ritual & more.

PNCA | Gallery 214
December 05th, 2013 – January 29th, 2014

Winner of a 2014 Thesis Writing Award and the 2014 Intermedia Department Award

36 albums

Fall 2013