Seminar: Indigenous Histories

WAHSONTIIO CROSS (region Canada) is Kanien’kehá: ka from Kahnawà:ke Mohawk Territory, Quebec and holds the position of Associate Curator, Indigenous Ways and Decolonization at the National Gallery of Canada. Cross is a PhD candidate in Cultural Mediations at Carleton University, where her research revolves around contemporary and historical Hotinonshón:ni (Haudenosaunee) beadwork and material culture. Her writing has been included in exhibition catalogues for Skawennati: From Skyworld to Cyberspace (McIntosh Gallery, 2019) and Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artists (Minneapolis Institute of Art, 2019). Previously, she worked for the Ottawa Art Gallery, where she curated Michael Belmore And A.J. Casson: Nkweshkdaadiimgak Miinwaa Bakeziibiisan/Confluences and Tributaries and Wrapped in Culture, which recently returned from a tour of Australia.

NIGEL BORELL (region Aotearoa/New Zeland) is of Pirirakau, Ngāti Ranginui, Ngāi Te Rangi, Te Whakatōhea Māori tribal descent. A writer specializing in Māori art, Borell is the Curator Taonga Māori at the Auckland War Memorial Museum, New Zealand. He was the curator of exhibitions such as The Māori Portraits: Gottfried Lindauer’s New Zealand, De Young Fine Arts Museum, San Francisco (2017); Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki (2020–2021); and cocurated Moa Hunter Fashions, Areta Wilkinson for the 9th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Brisbane, Australia (2018).

ABRAHAM CRUZVILLEGAS (region Mexico) is an active member of the Intergalactic Taoist Tai Chi Society. His work has been part of exhibitions in institutions such as The Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach (2022); the Honolulu Biennial (2019); the Sydney Biennial (2018); Museo Universitario de Ciencias y Arte, Mexico City (2018); Kunsthaus Zürich (2018); Ginza Maison Hermès: Le Forum, Tokyo (2017); the Nicaragua Biennial (2016); Tate Modern, London (2015); Sharjah Biennial 12 (2015); Museo Jumex, Mexico City; Museo Amparo, Puebla (2014); Haus der Kunst, Munich (2014); Documenta 13, Kassel (2012); the 12th Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul (2011); the 6th Seoul Mediacity Biennale (2010); REDCAT, Los Angeles (2009); the 10th Biennial de Havana (2009); Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow (2008); and the 50th Biennale di Venezia (2003), among others. In 2016, Harvard University Press published his collected writings The Logic of Disorder.

KÁSSIA BORGES KARAJÁ (region Brazil) studied Visual Arts at Universidade Federal de Uberlândia (UFU) and the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), has a PhD degree in Environmental Sciences and Sustainability in the Amazon from the Universidade Federal do Amazonas (UFAM), and a postgraduate degree in Political Philosophy from UFU. She is a specialized researcher in origin, women and ancestry at the Network for Environmental Studies in Portuguese-Speaking Countries (REALP) and an Associate Professor at Instituto de Artes da UFU. As a member of the collective Mahku, she has participated in many expositions, salons, and collections like Pinacoteca de São Paulo, Haus der Kunst (Germany), and Museum Tinguely (Switzerland). She is a Curator at the Museu do Índio de Uberlândia, and Curator-at-Large of Indigenous Art at MASP, and a member of the Instituto Rouanet’s Council.

RENATA TUPINAMBÁ (region Brazil) is a journalist, screenwriter, curator, producer, and artist. She has been working since 2005 in disseminating Indigenous cultures through projects. Her career has been marked by a devotion inspired by Indigenous art, cinema, and communication, as she develops pioneering work and transformative projects in this context. Founder of Originárias Produções, she was also co-founder and coordinator of Rádio Yandê, the first Brazilian Indigenous web radio. In 2022, she worked in the communication advisory of the Museu das Culturas Indígenas. In 2018, she created the Originárias Podcast, the first in Brazil of interviews with Indigenous artists, filmmakers, and musicians. Currently, she has been curating art, film, and music exhibitions and festivals, but also works as a screenwriter for series, documentaries, and films. She is also Curator-at-Large of Indigenous Art at MASP.

EDSON KAYAPÓ (region Brazil) is from the Megenbokré people. Curator-at-Large of Indigenous Art at MASP, Professor of the Indigenous Intercultural Degree at the Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia da Bahia (IFBA), a PhD in Education and a Certified Professor in the Postgraduate Program in Teaching and Ethnic-Racial Relations at the Universidade Federal do Sul da Bahia (PPGER/UFSB).

IRENE SNARBY (region Norden/Sápmi) is a PhD fellow at the Arctic University of Norway and a member of the research group Worlding Northern Art (WONA). Snarby has researched and worked in the field of Sámi art since the early 1990s. For several years, she worked as a curator at RiddoDuottarMuseat, in Karasjok. In addition, she was a member of the Sámi Parliament’s acquisition committee for contemporary art and dáiddaduodji. Besides working as a consultant and curator, Snarby has written numerous articles, edited several publications, and lectured widely on the subject of Sámi art.

BRUCE JOHNSON-McLEAN (region Australia) is a member of the Wierdi people of the Birri Gubba Nation of Wribpid (central Queensland). He is currently the Barbara Jean Humphreys Assistant Director, Indigenous Engagement at the National Gallery of Australia. Bruce was formerly a Curator of Indigenous Australian Art at the Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA). He has also been part of the curatorial team for the Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (2018–19), GOMA Q: Contemporary Queensland Art (2015); Land, Sea and Sky: Contemporary Art of the Torres Strait Islands (2011); Story Place: Indigenous Art of Cape York and the Rainforest (2003); and the Contemporary Australia series. In 2002, Bruce was awarded the National Aboriginal Youth of the Year; he is also a songman, dancer, and yiḏaki (didgeridoo) player.

SANDRA GAMARRA (region Peru) studied Fine Arts at the Universidad Católica del Perú. Gamarra is the first artist not born in Spain to represent the country at this year's Venice Biennale, with the project ‘Pinacoteca migrante’. In 2002, she created LiMac, a real/fake museum, as a response to the institutional vacuum in Peru. Initially based on “souvenirs” such as erasers, pencils, and yo-yos, Gamarra developed the museum’s collection with her painted appropriations and her architectural project for an invisible building under the desert of Lima. Always camouflaged and hybrid, Sandra Gamarra’s constant use of painting acts as a mirror that not only changes exhibition formats and narratives, but the very ownership and circulation of Western culture.

MATHIAS DANBOLT is Professor of Art History at University of Copenhagen, Denmark. His research focuses on the politics of history and historiography in art and visual culture, with a special focus on queer, feminist, and decolonial perspectives. Danbolt is currently working on the contact zones between art history and colonial history in a Nordic context. He is currently Principal Investigator of two collective research projects, The Art of Nordic Colonialism: Writing Transcultural Art Histories (2019-2024) and Moving Monuments: The Afterlife of Sculpture from the Danish Colonial Era (2022-2025). His latest publications include the anthology Searvedoaibma: Art and Social Communities in Sápmi (2024), co-edited with Britt Kramvig and Christina Hætta, a result of the research project OKTA: Art and Communities in Friction in Sápmi (2019-2022).

ANN JORID HENRIKSEN AND BAND Ann Jorid Henriksen (b. 1951) is a notable Sámi vocalist and joiker, with significant involvement in music, acting, and politics. After a hiatus, Henriksen returned to the music scene in 2020 with the album "Vaimmus Váibmui" collaborating with pianist and composer Andreas Gundersen (b. 1993). Last year, they released their second album, "De fas!". Gundersen is in 2024 the composer-in-residence at Kode, with ongoing projects at the museum. At Troldhaugen they perform alongside Lyder Øvreås Røed (trumpet), Joel Ring (bass), and David Cariano Timme (percussion).