“Celebrating Native Heritage: Jeffrey Gibson’s Venice Symposium Highlights Indigenous Pride”
The text you provided details a rich and vibrant recounting of artist Jeffrey Gibson’s (Mississippi Choctaw/Cherokee) exhibition at the United States Pavilion for the Venice Biennale, titled “The Space in Which to Place Me.” This exhibition and the accompanying three-day convening, “If I Read You/What I Wrote Bear/In Mind I Wrote It,” organized by Bard College’s Center for Indigenous Studies, bring together the interdisciplinary, transnational nature of Gibson’s creative work, which intersects contemporary art, Indigenous histories, and diverse forms of cultural expressions. Let’s distill the key elements of this experience into an organized informative article.
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### Jeffrey Gibson at the Venice Biennale: A Celebration of Indigenous Art, Collaboration, and Identity
**Introduction**
At this year’s Venice Biennale, the U.S. Pavilion is home to Jeffrey Gibson’s deeply poignant and immersive exhibition, *The Space in Which to Place Me*. The exhibition is more than a groundbreaking moment for Gibson himself—it’s a celebration of Indigenous creativity, identity, and the power of art to foster dialogues across disciplines. This event marks Gibson as the first Indigenous artist to have a solo exhibition at the U.S. Pavilion in the Biennale, one of the most prestigious art platforms on the global stage. Yet, the larger story transcends this accolade; it is one of collaboration, resilience, and resistance.
The exhibition is a result of long-term collaboration between Gibson, his curators—Kathleen Ash-Milby (Navajo), Abigail Winograd, and others—and a vibrant community of artists, performers, and scholars. Their work ultimately culminated in a three-day convening by Bard College’s Center for Indigenous Studies, themed *If I Read You/What I Wrote Bear/In Mind I Wrote It*, which brought together diverse voices working at the intersection of art, culture, and Indigenous identity.
### Art Meets Performance: Blurring Boundaries
The magnitude of Gibson’s work was amplified by spirited performances, one of which featured the experimental music group *White People Killed Them*, comprising Raven Chacon (Diné), John Dieterich, and Marshall Trammell. Taking place against the backdrop of Gibson’s vibrant sculpture titled *the space in which to place me*, the performance pushed the boundaries between installation art, music, and audience interaction. Dancers from the Colorado Inter-Tribal Dancers and Oklahoma Fancy Dancers added traditional elements, creating a cacophony of movement, music, and energy that resonated deeply with the Native attendees. The merging of electronic sounds, traditional drumming, and storytelling echoed the themes rippling through Gibson’s entire exhibition—duality, collaboration, and reclamation of Indigenous space.
### Multi-Disciplinary and Collaborative Spirit
The rich collaboration extended beyond visual art into discourse, poetry readings, and academic exchanges. One of the highlights of the convening was the powerful reading delivered by poet Layli Long Soldier (Oglala Lakota). Her works, like “Ȟe Sápa” and other selections, were woven into Gibson’s exhibition, anchoring his ideas in both contemporary and historical perspectives on Indigenous identity. Long Soldier’s reading, which began with a heartfelt dedication to children, triggered emotional contemplation, especially as she considered the current plight of children suffering globally, particularly in Gaza—showing how art can connect distant, yet shared, struggles for freedom.
Moreover, panel discussions led by thought-leaders such as historian Philip Deloria (Yankton Dakota Sioux Nation) expanded the narrative beyond the Native American experience to include African-American historical struggles for civil rights. Acknowledging Frederick Douglass and Nina Simone in the Pavilion, Gibson’s exhibition encouraged cross-cultural conversations, particularly between Indigenous and Black critiques of American authority.
### Embracing Indigenous Futures
Though rooted in history, *The Space in Which to Place Me* gazes into the future. As scholar Jolene Rickard (Tuscarora) emphasized during the convening, the exhibition opens up possibilities for imagining Indigenous “future-making” amid the ecological and cultural challenges of today. Rickard championed the idea that one day, Indigenous pavilions could represent sovereign Native nations in their own right—echoing a future where Indigenous narratives are fully realized within global spaces like the Venice Biennale.
From the panels and performances, one takeaway became clear: Gibson’s pavilion is part of an ongoing process of re-establishing Indigenous presence in places that have long erased or marginalized it. The artist himself succinctly articulated the hope to push conversations about Indigenous cultures “to the next subject or the next place.”
The closing event featured yet another powerful moment: dancers, performers, and audience members sharing the stage, literally and figuratively, demonstrating how the collaborative and performative elements of the pavilion created a nurturing space for shared joy, sorrow, and resistance united under the banner of Indigenous creativity.
### Conclusion: Envisioning the Future
Jeffrey Gibson’s *The Space in Which to