Cannupa Hanska Luger

 

Cannupa Hanska Luger is a multi-disciplinary contemporary artist of Native American and European heritage. He creates his work using ceramics, found objects, and in recent years has begun to incorporate social engagement, and social collaboration to his oeuvre to respond to social and site-specific issues. (Luger, 2021) He grew up on the Standing Rock Reservation of North Dakota, the area in which protests against The Dakota Access Pipeline were held. The Indigenous peoples of North America have suffered immensely as the result of European invasion and generation after generation continue to endure the long-term effects of colonisation. They still experience adversity, persecution, and stigmatization today. Of his work, Luger says he would like to “communicate stories about 21st Century Indigeneity … (and) provoke diverse audiences to engage with Indigenous peoples and values apart from the lens of colonial social structuring”. (Luger, 2021) Communication is the key word here, but not through script or conversation alone.  Cannupa uses his art as a kind of storytelling, it is a fluid form of communication that surpasses cultural and language barriers, it’s more personal and adaptable, and creates connections by involving wide range of audiences. The world is filled with antiquated stereotypes and these typecasts act as barriers for change, understanding and positive progression. They unfairly compartmentalise entire groups of people and fool you into thinking you have an understanding, but these biased snippets do nothing more than breed ignorance.  Luger’s work breaks these barriers, opening the floor to create an honest dialogue of the Indigenous experience throughout history, one that crucially includes contemporary experiences. So often Indigenous people are portrayed through a folkloric lens, frozen in time; his concepts blend both traditional and cultural themes with the contemporary, expanding the narrative and giving a deeper insight into Indigenous lives across time periods.

‘(No) stalgia’, by Luger,Cannupa Hanska, sculptural installation, ceramic skull, bone, antlers, thrift store clothing, 10 x 5 x 8 Ft,  2014

The installation entitled (No) stalgia was the first of Luger’s work I encountered. I was struck by this wounded animal, causing a visceral reaction of pain and sadness. The ceramic work of the skull and antlers are so lifelike, a clear display of Luger’s skill. The knitted entrails and hide made from thrifted blankets, like something your Nana would make, soften what is otherwise a gruesome scene and give it a tactility. The deer is not some warrior trophy out of a spaghetti western, it represents a life destroyed by empty nostalgia and the idea that we define ourselves by some past notion that is not our current reality, nothing is harvested, all is waste. (Luger, 2021) The contrast of old and new materials run parallel to the concepts in Lugers work of past and present perceptions.

As I explored Luger’s other works, I discovered he was raised on The Standing Rock Reservation. In 2016 protest camps were set up in the hopes of stopping the Dakota Access Pipeline. The pipeline was to transport oil just half a mile from the Reservation and would run underneath the Missouri River, a lifeline for the residents.  (Friedman, 2020) The protests gathered supporters from a mix of backgrounds, other tribes and non-Native peoples stood in unison. Luger saw this as an opportunity for collective change and a platform for communication. It was during this crisis that he curated the Mirror Shield Project.  He called for participation in creating these mirror ‘shields’ for the protesters. The protesters lifted their mirrors and walked in a swirling water-like fashion to reflect the toxic behaviours of the police watching from above back to themselves, thus using art as peaceful resistance. (Luger, 2021)

Both atrocities and celebrations have a way of binding people together; Luger channels the energy of those groups for the benefit of all Indigenous people and their cultural heritage. In his own words Luger says “I want to lay groundwork… to establish connections, to mobilize action. I want to make real impact, to collectively challenge the systemic conditions of capitalism while claiming space for urgent and emergent Indigenous narratives.”

A video of the Mirror Shield Project can be seen here https://vimeo.com/194691860

Friedman, Lisa (2020) ‘Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Wins a Victory in Dakota Access Pipeline Case’ , in The New York Times, March 25^th 2020, [Accessed online] https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/25/climate/dakota-access-pipeline-sioux.html [Accessed 17th March 2021]

Levin, Sam (2016) ‘Dakota Access pipeline: the who, what and why of the Standing Rock protests’, in The Guardian, November 2016, [Accessed online] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/nov/03/north-dakota-access-oil-pipeline-protests-explainer [Accessed on 11th March 2021]

Luger, Cannupa Hanska, http://www.cannupahanska.com , [Accessed 11^th March 2021]