MAM presents Native Artists, Northeast Futures

With Elizabeth James-Perry (Wampanoag), David L. Haff (Lenape), and Jeremy Dennis (Shinnecock)

Moderated by Laura J. Allen, MAM Curator of Native American Art

In this weekend series developed with Iakowi:he’ne’ Oakes, artists from Northeastern Indigenous nations share their varied artistic practices, which include photography, landscape art, digital media, painting, beadwork, fashion, and performance. In dialogue, they will reflect on their lands and waters, narrative and memory, and how their work counteracts injustice to forge new regional futures.

Featuring Artists:

Jeremy Dennis is a contemporary fine art photographer and a tribal member of the Shinnecock Indian Nation in Southampton, NY. In his work, he explores indigenous identity, culture, and assimilation. Dennis holds an MFA from Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA, and a BA in Studio Art from Stony Brook University, NY. He currently lives and works in Southampton, New York on the Shinnecock Indian Reservation. www.jeremynative.com

Jeremy Dennis, Monolith, 2019

Elizabeth James-Perry (Aquinnah Wampanoag) is an internationally known traditional and contemporary artist. She was awarded a Traditional Arts Fellowship in Textiles and Wampum by the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Elizabeth’s approach highlights the link between Wampanoag sovereignty, land and visual expression. Her Beyond 1620: Wampanoag Voices recording about King Philips Sash connected the rare textile to the colonization of eastern tribal territory, was later played to the Massachusetts State Legislature as part of the initiative to replace the state seal. She designs authentic materials, most recently for Tashtego in Moby Dick at A.R.T. and for Manahatta at Yale Repertory Theatre. She documented the beauty of tribal homelands as a producer of background scenery for As Nutayunean, the Wampanoag Language Reclamation Program documentary film. Elizabeth holds a degree in Marine Science from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, and a certificate for Digital Tribal Stewardship from Washington State University. She spent over a decade engaged in Historic Preservation for her tribal nation and was a member of USET’s Culture and Heritage Committee, and was the Federal Tribal Co-Lead of the Northeast Ocean Planning Body. She is currently an artist in Residence at Amherst College. See her recent works at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts. www.elizabethjamesperry.com

Elizabeth James-Perry, Raven Reshapes Boston: A Native Corn Garden at the MFA, 2021

David L. Haff is a proud graduate of Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, where he majored in industrial design. Prior to Pratt, Haff had an extensive career in mechanical and construction processes, and his love for form and interaction grew while in college. In 2019, he moved from the industrial landscapes of New York to the bright desertscapes of Arizona. Pulling from his Lenape heritage, he has always been fascinated with the power of oral tradition.  His abstract painting and mixed media work embrace storytelling through illusionary memories. Find him on Instagram @david_l_haff

David L. Haff, Night Walk Central Park, 2020

Moderator & Curator: 

Laura J. Allen is the Curator of Native American Art at the Montclair Art Museum. Previously, she held curatorial and interpretive roles at the American Museum of Natural History, the University of Alaska Museum of the North, the State Museum of Pennsylvania, and other organizations, and has an interdisciplinary background in anthropology, design, and the natural sciences. Her research and advocacy address intercultural exchange, colonialism, and Indigenous agency; the use of animal materials; and the production, collection, circulation, and display of cultural objects and designs, especially dress and textiles. Invested in collaborative, critical museological practice that centers Indigenous perspectives, she strives to activate museum collections through (re)connection with communities of origin and inspire critically engaged audiences. www.laura-allen.com

IPD Co-curator: 

Iakowi:he'ne' Oakes is a Kanien:ke’ha’/Mohawk woman, mother, cultural curator, leader, advocate, producer, coach, artist, designer, and athlete. She was born and raised in Akwesasne Mohawk Territory, a reservation that straddles the border of New York, Ontario and Quebec. She is Kaneinkehake: the Keepers of the Eastern Door in the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. Her experience and intentions are focused on nation-building, maintaining and strengthening sovereignty, the right to self-determination, land stewardship, economic development, social justice, culture, and the arts. She is the founder and director of the North American Indigenous Center of New York for Culture, Equity and Economic Development and the Chief Executive Officer of Mohawk Coterie at Mohawkcoterie.com. From the Oka Crisis, International Bridge shutdowns, Idle No More, Two Row Wampum Renewal, NODAPL, the Climate March, and the Land Back movement, she has been progressively organizing, advocating and cultivating change. www.naicny.org, www.mohawkcoterie.com