The 140 works in this major traveling exhibition celebrate the richness and diversity of contemporary Native and First Nations art. In addition to interpreting—and often redefining—such traditional media as basketry, beadwork, textiles, wood, metalwork and stone, the artists in Changing Hands 3 have embraced video, photography, and performance and installation art. Among the themes they explore are the natural and spiritual worlds as sources of inspiration; the reinterpretation of traditions; and the often politically charged issue of cultural assimilation.
The final installment of a series organized by New York’s Museum of Arts and Design, this exhibition showcases artists from eastern Canada and the US Northeast, Southeast and Midwest. Among them are several artists with ties to Rochester.
“When the first Changing Hands exhibition was organized in 2002, the title referred to the passing on of cultural knowledge and traditions from one generation to another, generally within a family. But in less than a decade, the concept of ‘changing hands’ has evolved,” notes co-curator Ellen Taubman. Most of the artists in Changing Hands 3 have studied at art schools and universities in the US and Canada, and many are helping train the next generation at mainstream institutions.
“Through an extraordinary melding of past and present, and direct opposition between stereotype and tradition,” says Taubman, “the Native artists featured in the exhibition confront what Native art has meant and what it means today.”
This exhibition was organized by the Museum of Arts and Design, New York City. In Rochester, it is sponsored by M&T Bank and the Robert L. and Mary L. Sproull Fund, with additional support from the John D. Greene Endowment for Contemporary Exhibitions, Deanne Molinari, Ganondagan and Mann’s Jewelers.