Anna Tsouhlarakis

Biography

Early life Anna Tsouhlarakis was born in 1977 in Lawrence, Kansas. She was raised by her father and her grandmother. She spent most of her childhood in Kansas and New Mexico until she permanently moved to New Mexico. Growing up, Tsouhlarakis was surrounded by artists and learned traditional work such as beading and woodworking. Her father, Naveek, was a contractor before becoming a full-time artist as a jeweler. She began making art by using scraps of copper or wood that her father would bring back. Other artists also helped guide her in different types of media and on what it is like to be a Native American contemporary artist. She then found her footing in the media she preferred to use which was not as traditional. Tsouhlarakis used to compete in powwow dances when she was young and had a traditional wedding. Social engagement art resident, April 2020 at the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts.

She is currently working on many projects, exhibitions, residencies, and works that can be found on her website or social media. One of them is The Native Guide Project, in which she uses billboards and social media to share feedback from her viewers.

Collections Known Paths, March 2, 2020 - March 5, 2020, at Haverford College in Pennsylvania. Art for a New Understanding, October 12 and 14, 2018 at Crystal Bridges.

Let's Dance!, 2004 Her 2004 video, Let's Dance! runs for fifteen minutes and thirty seconds. In the video, Tsouhlarakis is taught thirty dances such as the salsa and Harlem Shake, each from a new person with a different background. The video is meant to send a message about inclusion and that nothing is attached to a specific culture, as Natives can do non-Native dances as well.

Sculpture/installation

Clash of the Titans, 2007 In her 2007 exhibition, Clash of the Titans, Tsouhlarakis was inspired by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and greek mythology. The installation was made from vinyl signage, found wood, screws, and wire.

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions 2016 She Made for Her, Neubauer Collegium Gallery. The University of Chicago. Chicago, IL. 2013 In Other Words: A Native Primer, Flashpoint Galleria. Washington, DC. Heard Museum. Art for a New Understanding. Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. 2020 Residency 2018 Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. 2016 Ward 12, Halcyon House. Washington, DC. Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian. 2008 Remix: New Modernities in a post-Indian world, New York. 2009

Select awards and fellowships

Awards R.C. Gorman Award (1995) DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities 2015 The Native Arts and Cultures Foundation 2016 Halcyon Fellowship

Publications

"Unsettled," 2015 In her article, Tsouhlarakis discusses the exhibition, Athena LaTocha: Curated by Jaune Quick-to-See Smith at the CUE.