SAN ANTONIO, TX.- Artpace San Antonio announced their Fall Main Space exhibition, featuring local artist and City of San Antonio Department of Arts & Culture Individual Artist Grant Recipient, Joe Harjo. Harjo’s solo exhibit, Look Now What I’ve Become is currently on view and will remain so through December 31, 2023. A public reception will be held on Thursday, December 7, alongside the Hudson Showroom opening.
A multidisciplinary artist, Harjo continues to expose the realities of Native culture in America. Look Now What I’ve Become delves into the impact of language, identity, and the nature of citizenship. This exhibit aims to explore how language shapes societal perception and confronts the cultural manipulation of the terms “immigrant” and “native” within America's complex relationship with citizenship, white nationalism, and colonization.
The installation consists of painted plywood boards that create a two-sided sign that spans 10 feet high by 20 feet across. Each side of the sign is painted with latex and acrylic paint in bold red against a stark white background, with the word "IMMIGRANT" on one side and “NATIVE” on the other side. Within the letters of each word, reads smaller words to create the messages: “Immigrant is an American Word” and "Native is a European Word” respectively.
Harjo told Artpace, “The terms “native” and “immigrant” are used to categorize and other a diverse group of people with rich histories and abundant spirit…the subtleties of language can be used as a weapon to divide, and the use of complex terms such as “native” and “immigrant” play a role in influencing our perception of reality. This knowledge enhances our awareness, making it unavoidably evident.”
The commanding nature of the striking piece carries a simple authority that demands attention. Harjo utilizes methods of signage, such as size and high contrast colors, to make the message impossible to avoid. The gravitational pull of the exhibit confronts passersby with the presence of the “immigrant,” demanding that viewers acknowledge their multifaceted existence. By deliberately obscuring perspectives from both inside and outside the gallery, Harjo prompts the audience to contemplate the profound influence of language on our perceptions, deliberately highlighting its potential to create divisions.
This installation is especially poignant as the United States continues to grapple with challenges of racial and ethnic discrimination, despite many illusions of equality.
Joe Harjo is a multidisciplinary artist from the Muscogee (Creek) Nation of Oklahoma and is currently working and teaching in San Antonio, TX. He holds a BFA in Visual Arts from the University of Central Oklahoma and an MFA from the University of Texas at San Antonio. His work uncovers the lack of visibility of Native culture, lived experience, and identity in America, due to the absence of proper representation in mainstream culture and the undermining of Native belief systems. He confronts the misrepresentation and appropriation of Native culture and identity, initiating a call for change.
