Autumn Cavender Artist Talk

Join us with Autumn Cavender for an artist talk about her exhibition Hinapapi - Emerging.

Some things cannot be forced. They do not simply appear, perfect and fully-formed, on demand. Instead, they emerge. Slowly. Imperfectly. Incompletely.

Like dreams, memories, or stars at dusk, we invite the return of our songs, stories, and traditions. We coax them lovingly back into our collective reality, rejoicing in their ephemeral nature before birthing them into tangible reality again.

Cultural revitalization is inviting and creating space for the re-emergence of language, songs, animals, plants, and relationships. By its very nature, the process is delicate, slow, and easily disrupted.

Hinapapi - Emerging is a commentary on revitalization guided by the artist’s creative process. The designs of each digital piece is coaxed out of sound, historical/ancestral design, and the interactions of children with traditional knowledge. These ephemeral pieces have to be coaxed into existence, either through generative code or manifested only as light, into spaces carefully crafted to welcome them.

An inherent part of this “welcoming” is this use of animal hides. Historically almost all Dakota life, from birth to death, happened upon them. By coming back to their traditional use as carriers of knowledge and lifeway, we re-establish our relationships to the Wamakaskan Oyate and re-invite the stories of the ones who came before.