The Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester (MAG) is pleased to announce the upcoming presentation of works of art by multimedia artist G. Peter Jemison (Seneca, Heron Clan). Installed in MAG’s Forman Gallery and extending into the Cameros Gallery of 19th-century American Art, “To Help People See”: The Art of G. Peter Jemison will be on view from March 12 – November 14, 2021.
The installation will feature highlights from Jemison’s illustrious career, spanning the years 1969 to the present, depicting his personal experience of Haudenosaunee culture, the tensions between Euro-American and Indigenous American ways of life, and the ongoing struggle for Native American land rights restoration. Groupings will include Jemison’s practice in abstract expressionism and mixed media as well as landscapes, crow imagery, and his unique use of paper shopping bags as a surface for his paintings. Text panels will also provide interpretation by Dr. Neal Keating, Anthropology professor at SUNY Brockport and author of Iroquois Art, Power, and History, as well as Jemison’s own words regarding his life and art.
Programming centered on the exhibition in collaboration with the artist and Ganondagan will take place
throughout the run of the installation, including a virtual artist talk between Peter Jemison and Jamie Jacobs (Tonawanda Seneca, Turtle Clan) Sunday, March 28 at 2 pm.
About the Artist
Multimedia artist G. Peter Jemison’s (Seneca, Heron Clan) career spans decades and nations, influencing
generations of contemporary Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists alike. Jemison currently serves as the Historic Site Manager of the Ganondagan State Historic Site, the location of a 17th-century Seneca town in Victor, identified as a National Historic Landmark and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Jemison is also the representative for the Seneca Nation of Indians on the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) and a member of the Board of Trustees for the National Museum of the American Indian.