RED EARTH GAZE Opening Reception

Image: Voice 109: Calen by Nicole Merton

RED EARTH GAZE features Contemporary Native visual narratives that are reflective of each artists’ life perspective. Together in unison, these works coalesce notions from the past and present as we consciously emerge into the future, celebrating the expansive hopes and dreams of Native peoples as multidimensional beings. Taking place on the unceded, traditional homelands of the Gabrielino Tongva-Kizh at AGCC, the exhibition coincides with the 17th annual Many Winters Gathering of Elders.

This group exhibition is curated by Gloria Gem Sánchez, a Xicana-Filipina Indigenous artist and longtime contributor to the Many Winters Gathering of Elders efforts at AGCC. Sanchez has assembled multiple generations of Indigenous artists, paying homage to the Elders who founded The Gathering, while also recognizing a younger generation of contemporary Native artists in a multitude of artistic medias. “To tell our stories and histories is a powerful tool of cultural sustenance. Native American author John Trudell said it best with his quote, ‘I am just a human being trying to make it in a world that is rapidly losing its understanding of being human.’ To make space for our own narratives is to participate in the human experience because without them, we could not know who we are or where we’ve come from.” – Sánchez

RED EARTH GAZE includes works by Weshoyot Alvitre, Miranda Calvin, Avis Charley, Joe Galarza, River Garza, Tochtlita Melissa Govea, Jesús Jesse Gutiérrez, L. Frank Manriquez, Nicole Merton, Isaac Michael, Tony Portillo, Xochitlmilko Portillo, Laurie Steelink, Marissa Magdalena Sykes, Mi’randa Nana Villanueva, Alexandria Ybarra, Veronica Ybarra, and Mer Young.