catalogue
2008
Published in conjunction with the exhibition of the same name, HIDE: Skin as Material and Metaphor includes insightful essays by noted art historians and critics which investigate the multiple layers of meaning behind the concept of skin and how this symbolism emerges in contemporary Native art. The authors examine the artists and their work in the context of skin both as a material with the potential for incorporation into the art and as a metaphor for personal identity and public representation.
The essays are accompanied by stunning illustrations of art and photography in a beautifully designed volume of work—a striking addition to our NMAI Editions series of contemporary art books. Featured in the exhibition and book are three installation artists, Sonya Kelliher-Combs (Inupiaq/Athabascan), Nadia Myre (Anishinaabe), and Michael Belmore (Ojibway), and five photographers: Arthur Renwick (Haisla), KC Adams (Métis), Terrance Houle (Blood), Rosalie Favell (Cree Métis), and Sarah Sense (Chitimacha/Choctaw).
Edited by Kathleen Ash-Milby (Navajo) with essays by noted art scholars Anne Ellegood, Richard William Hill (Cree), Ihor Holubizky, Jolene Rickard (Tuscarora), and Aleta Ringlero (Pima).
Hide: Skin as Material and Metaphor
10-03-06
“HIDE: Skin as Material and Metaphor demonstrates brilliantly the richness of American Indian artistic and critical traditions as they explore the overlaps between cultural production and political claims.
Organizing our thinking about such issues through the potent medium of skin, the essays and images in HIDE take us on a thoughtful journey through the politics and aesthetics of an important collection of
contemporary work. Provocative, insightful, and intelligent, this fine volume defines the leading edge of American Indian art and criticism. It is not to be missed!”
Philip J. Deloria, PhD (Standing Rock Sioux)
University of Michigan
Author of Playing Indian (1998) and
Indians in Unexpected Places (2004)