July 13, 2023, marked the first time that a member of The Federation of Aboriginal Nations of the Americas (FANA) is having a public showing of Indigenous Art Work in Rhode Island. The event is at WaterFire Arts Center, 475 Valley Street, Providence, RI 02908. Hours are Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday 10:00 AM to 5 PM. Thursday 10:00 AM to 9:00 PM. The exhibition will run until August 20, 2023
FANA member Chief Tureygua is co-hosting the event featuring local artists' works, beginning with FANA’s Director, Chief Two Hawks, and his wife Jeny. This is Chief Tureygua’s first time as curator and I am including a direct quote from him regarding the event. The “…exhibition of Local Providence-based artist with the Providence Biennial for contemporary art. This event will be a large scale exhibition of cultural practitioners and artist titled Remedy/Poiesis…”
In an earlier press release that covered the grand opening, the following information was included in the article:
“…Joel Rosario Tapia confronts and seeks to remedy ongoing experiences of race-implicit bias, white supremacism, and economic and environmental discrimination. Remedy presents art's ability to act as an antidote, understanding remedy as both noun and verb, an action taking an action. He considers the work of the Providence artists chosen to be models for national if not global efforts to defeat injustice.
Remedy celebrates artists who embody and manifest living culture, dismissing memory and heritage as a past construct vs. a deeply committed current practice. Tapia’s curatorial perspectives are informed by his own Taino spirituality and culture. Visual art including public art, and performance, stimulate his dual artistic/cultural and curatorial practice. In Remedy Tapia derives inspiration from the "ancestral technology" of the Taino Medicine Wheel that adapts cardinal points to spiritual ones. To Tapia, its values of knowledge; wisdom and enlightenment; introspection, and innocence/open-mindedness stimulate positive interactions within society and also sustain artistic truthfulness.”
Melaine Ferdinand-King concentrates on the city's multiple vernaculars —its street life and culture informed by homegrown artists, thinkers, intellectuals and workers—revealing the shifting values of commemoration. Ferdinand-King explores how aesthetic movements can be a source of inspiration to challenge and disrupt dominant narratives, facilitating conversations around power dynamics and societal structures. Thoughtfully incorporating aesthetic and political strategies into her curation, she works to develop exhibitions and events that educate and inspire viewers to respond critically to issues within their communities.
Exposing ephemerality versus permanent monument making, Ferdinand-King meaningfully adopts the ancient Greek concept of Poiesis—the process of creation—to explore the poiesis of the art of the city. Poiesis is an invitation to commemorate the world around us, treasure the transient, and see the potential for beauty and creativity in even the most mundane spaces…”
Please click the link below that will provide you with a video about the exhibit which runs from July 13 – July 20, 2023.
https://youtu.be/ut9FWwaSid8
If you have any questions, please enter them in the comment section below or email them to fanapressdirector@gmail.com.