Indigenous Aesthetics: Art, Activism and Autonomy

Description

Indigenous Aesthetics critically investigates the intersection of contemporary native art and anti-colonial politics. In the wake of the near universal adoption of the United Nations' Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, a text of this nature is crucial as contemporary indigenous artists, activists, and curators continue to change the landscape of indigeneity and the political possibilities of self-determination (both political and artistic). No other single-authored book has explored the relationship between contemporary artistic practice and indigenous activism. With a focus on 'non-traditional' indigenous practices, Miner explores the discourses and the artistic and aesthetic sites in which contemporary Native artists are participating. In this way, an engaged analysis of contemporary art - including popular and street art, indigenous theory, and curatorial work - appropriately positions news ways of seeing indigenous North American art. Written from an indigenist perspective, one which incorporates Western theories, yet couched in contemporary indigenous ontologies, Indigenous Aesthetics is the first book of its kind to discuss contemporary Native art in relationship to radical politics and/or aesthetics.

Dylan A. T. Miner (Wiisaakodewinini) is Associate Professor and Director of American Indian Studies at Michigan State University, USA. He is also an artist and curator.