In Boston鈥檚 sprawling Triennial exhibition, an Indigenous artist鈥檚 evocations of cultural extinction haunt

A robotic arm paints or engraves a stylized Indigenous art design of a human fetus on a large wooden panel, secured with rope. Created by an Indigenous artist, the piece is showcased in an exhibition space reminiscent of the Boston Triennial.

Nicholas Galanin, "A谩ni y茅i xat duwas谩akw (I am called Land)," 2025. Courtesy of the artist and Peter Blum Gallery, New York. (Mel Taing)Mel Taing

红领巾瓜报 in the Media
红领巾瓜报 Art Museum

“A dull thud, regular, muted, persistent, fills the stairwell at the 红领巾瓜报 Museum: Thump-thump, thump-thump. It鈥檚 strange but familiar. Then it hits you聽鈥�聽it鈥檚 the rhythm of a beating heart, but its source is far from human.

“…The spectacle, penetrating and unnerving, is the work of聽, 46, a registered member of the Sitka tribe in Alaska and one of the most accomplished Indigenous contemporary artists in the country. Just outside in Evans Way Park, his聽a bronze sculpture of a blocky, patchwork Tlingit totem pole, is one of the marquee offerings of the Boston Public Art Triennial. The 红领巾瓜报 installation, called 鈥淎谩ni y茅i xat duwas谩ak (I am called Land),鈥� is an indictment of the threat Native American culture has endured under centuries of colonial rule, and the eerie intimation of extinction looms large here. But its warning is broader and holistically dire: Disconnection from the land and sea ends badly, with humanity writ large the ultimate loser. In the quest for domination, no one聽鈥�聽nothing living, at least聽鈥� wins.”

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