Urbano Project is presenting Artist-in-Residence Erin Genia’s first solo show in Boston, Okoŋwaŋžidaŋ, which means “oneness, being of one mind” in the Dakota language.
The exhibit is opening October 24, and is running through December 21, with an opening reception on Thursday, October 24 from 6-8 pm at Urbano’s gallery at the Brewery Complex in Jamaica Plain.
Genia (Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate) is a multidisciplinary Dakota artist with an MS in Art, Culture and Technology from MIT. She works with painting, ceramic, sound, performance, and video installation to create a powerful presence of Indigeneity that invokes an evolution of thought and practice aligned with the cycles of the natural world and the potential of humanity.
In Dakota philosophy, all things exist within a continuum of life, and the concept of mitakuye oyasin -- we are all related, extends not only to other people, but to animals, plants, minerals, electricity, air, objects, and everything in existence. As we operate within political and economic systems that divide us, people have forgotten that we are not separate from the earth -- we are the earth. With this in mind, how can we respect the agency of the inherent life in everything around us? How can we work together to create Okoŋwaŋžidaŋ as we seek to address the issues of climate change and mass ecological destruction?
As Artist-in-Residence, Genia will share with Urbano’s youth artists stories from Native American peoples and the history and work of Indigenous peoples of our region, and teach storytelling through a variety of artistic methods: painting, printmaking, sculpture, performance, sound, and public art.
For more information, please visit Urbano’s urbanoproject.org and Instagram: urbano_project.