Nicholas Galanin

Nicholas Galanin (born 1979) is a Sitka Tribe of Alaska multi-disciplinary artist and musician of Tlingit and Unangax̂ descent. His work often explores a dialogue of change and identity between Native and non-Native communities.

Background Nicholas Galanin was born in Sitka, Alaska, in 1979. As a young boy, he learned to work with jewelry and metals from his father and uncle. He is also the grandchild of master carver George Benson.

In 2003, At London Guildhall University in England, he studied silversmithing and received a Bachelors of Fine Arts with honors in Jewelry Design & Silversmithing. In 2007, he received a Masters of Fine Arts in indigenous visual arts at Massey University in New Zealand.

In 2006, he created a book sculpture series, entitled What Have We Become? which incorporated blank pages and pages from 19th century anthropological books, which he "carved into, hand cut and laser engraved".

Tsu Heidei Shugaxtutaan In 2008, Galanin's work was featured in "Beat Nation: Art, Hip Hop and Aboriginal Culture" exhibition at The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery. It was co-curated by Kathleen Ritter and Tania Willard, and featured the work of twenty-three aboriginal artists.

Galanin's entry, entitled Tsu Heidei Shugaxtutaan, is a two-part looping video of dance and music that mixes elements of traditional Tlingit and hip hop. In the first video, David "Elsewhere" Bernal is popping to a customary Tlingit song. In the second, Dan Littlefield appears in customary Tlingit regalia and dances to electronic music. The Tlingit song contains the words used in the title of the piece, Tsu Heidei Shugaxtutaan, which is pronounced "soo HAYdee shoe GAK tu tahn" and means "We Will Again Open This Container of Wisdom That Has Been Left in Our Care". In 2012, this work was featured in "Shapeshifting: Transformations in Native American Art", an exhibit hosted by the Peabody Essex Museum of Salem, Massachusetts.

S’igeika’awu: Ghost In 2009, S’igeika’awu: Ghost was displayed in a new wing of the Anchorage Museum. This work was described as "resembling both a Native mask and a piece of Delftware." The fusion of this work reminds viewers of the period when ceremonial Native masks were considered worthless, but fine porcelain was a valuable commodity.

Things are Looking Native, Native’s Looking Whiter Things are Looking Native, Native’s Looking Whiter was the centerpiece of "Unsettled", an exhibit hosted by the Nevada Museum of Art. It is a photographic giclée montage print that bisects and combines two photographs. On the left is a 1906 Edward S. Curtis image entitled "Tewa Girl", a photograph of an unnamed Hopi-Tewa girl with a traditional "squash blossom" hairstyle. The right half of the photo-montage depicts Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia from the 1977 film Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope with her classic "cinnamon roll" hair style. Galanin's work is intended as a "commentary on cultural appropriation in popular media", which is largely dominated by white actors and directors.

Edward S. Curtis was an ethnographer, who sought to photograph and record, on wax cylinders, and in written notes, "the mode of life of one of the great races of mankind, [which] must be collected at once or the opportunity will be lost." The records that he made, over a twenty-year period, [1906-1926] is, in most cases, the only photographic, recorded or written history of the Indigenous people of over eighty tribes.

Despite Curtis's two decades of dedicated and underpaid work, Galanin, in an interview with the Reno Gazette-Journal, argues that Curtis’ 40,000 photos of 80 Indigenous tribes were "stereotyping and romanticizing the Indigenous people". He continued: "When you choose, cherry pick, to devalue the artisans of a community, but then decide that it has value or use to you, you've removed context from the creators of it. That echoes the history that we're talking about. It's not a business deal; we're not open to business. It's thievery, really."

Although Galanin was uncertain if the Star Wars character's likeness to the Hopi-Tewa woman was deliberate or unintentional, he felt that "the influence was implied". "I challenge those who view or listen to my work to consider that Indigenous people are not contained by colonial mechanisms designed to erase our existence through continually narrowing categories of Indian-ness".

Works (2013–2017) In 2013, Galanin's artwork was featured at the Alaska State Museum.

In 2015, Galanin designed a logo for Tribal Sports, a brand created by the Sitka Tribe of Alaska and Baden Sports of Seattle. The logo was intended appear on Alaskan school basketballs and baseballs.

In 2016, You Are on Indisneyian Land was displayed at the "Race and Revolution" exhibition at Nolan Park on Governors Island. The same year, Kill the Indian, Save the Man was shown at the Anchorage Museum.

In 2017, his work was displayed at the Venice Biennale's Native American Pavilion. The 12,000 square-foot exhibition, displaying fifteen years of Galanin's works, was the largest contemporary arts exhibition to be shown at the Heard Museum in over a decade. One of Galanin's collaborators, Nep Sidhu, helped mount the exhibition. His work, We Dreamt Deaf was displayed at the Macalester College's Law Warschaw Gallery. It features a taxidermied polar bear from Shishmaref whose hindquarters not stuffed. The artworks presented in the two series were made through the process of printmaking.

The 2018 monotype series, Everything We’ve Ever Been, Everything We Are Right Now, previously shown at the 2019 Twin Cities Zine Fest, consisted of seven pieces and is "a reference to an ancestral entrance dance where the face is revealed, not masked". A series entitled Let them Enter Dancing and Showing Their Faces is collected in a monograph. The message was most clearly conveyed by White Noise, American Prayer Rug and The Imaginary Indian (Totem Pole), which provided commentary on the distractions of American culture The Biennale of Sydney was curated by Wiradjuri member Brook Andrew, who chose the word "NIRIN" as the title of the event, which is the Wiradjuri word for "edge". The exhibit focuses on "unresolved past anxieties and hidden layers of the supernatural," and presents the work of the Indigenous and diaspora communities that are not normally at the center of the art world. Galanin commented on the piece saying, "By creating a hole large enough to bury the statue, the work’s excavation (along with its title) suggests the burial of the Cook monument itself, along with the burial of destructive governance and treatment of Indigenous land, Indigenous people and Indigenous knowledge".

The year 2020 was the 250th anniversary of Captain James Cook's colonization of the already inhabited continent of Australia. The movement to remove statues related to colonization, has also been compared to Black Lives Matter protesters calling for the removal of statues of slave-owners and confederate soldiers. Galanin was briefly interviewed by Casey Grove of Alaska Public Media concerning the importance of art and its inspiration.

There has been a larger movement, specifically in Alaska, that has called for the removal of statues of colonial figures such as Captain Cook, William Seward, and Alexander Baranov. An opinion piece by Georgy Manaev criticized the movement to remove the statue, citing an overzealous cancel culture as the movement's motivation. Manaev stated that Baranov "wasn’t the first to start the conflict between the Russians and the native Alaskan tribes", which led him to believe that Baranov's statue shouldn't be the targeted for removal.

Music Nicholas Galanin began his solo project under the stage name Silver Jackson, and is part of a collective called The Black Constellation.

He started his own record label and a music festival called Home Skillet Festival. He released his first extended play, Moves Like Music in 2007. He released his debut album, which was self-titled, in 2008. In 2009, he released his sophomore album Thought I Found Gold. In 2011, Silver Jackson released a single, "Wild Woman" and in 2012, an album entitled It's Glimmering Now. In 2014, Silver Jackson released two promotional singles; "Perfect Mistake" and "You and I Should Try Again" followed by the studio album, Starry Skies Open Eyes. In 2016, he released a single entitled "Impetus Epoch".

Silver Jackson's music was featured on an Indigenous Futurism Mixtape. Silver Jackson produced the music for the documentary, Lineage: Tlingit Art Across Generations.

In 2017, Galanin formed a band with Otis Calvin III and Zak Dylan Wass called Indian Agent. The group released the promotional single entitled "Life Keeps On Spinning" from their debut album, Meditations in The Key of Red which was also released in 2017. In 2018, the group released the two-track single entitled "All I Sea".

Activism Galanin speaks on issues of colonialism and environmentalism. Galanin spoke at the University of North Dakota Writers Conference in 2018.

In 2019, Galanin was one of the 75 artists that were selected to present work in the 79th Whitney Museum of American Art Biennial. Selection by Whitney denotes an artist who is at the "forefront of American contemporary art" and provides them with valuable market exposure and important recognition. They protested against the presence of the Whitney Board of Trustees vice chair Warren Kanders, who owns the tear-gas producing company Safariland. A day later, they were joined by four additional artists, who also wished to withdraw their artwork. Others joined the protest. Kanders resigned, and the artists decided to allow their work to be exhibited. White Noise, American Prayer Rug, and Let Them Enter Dancing and Showing Their Faces — Shaman, were submitted by Galanin. 2013 Eiteljorg Contemporary Art Fellowship 2014 Rasmuson Foundation Fellow 2017 NACF Mentor Fellow 2018 Rasmuson Fellow 2018 Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center Fellow 2019 YBCA 100 Honoree 2020 Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence award, The American Academy of Arts and Letters 2020 Open Society Foundation Soros Arts Fellowship 2023 Joan Mitchell Fellowship ArtReview Power 100 List: Most influential people in 2023 in the contemporary artworld 2024 Guggenheim Fellowship in Fine Arts

Filmography

Short videos

Discography

Studio albums

Silver Jackson (2008) Thought I Found Gold (2009) It's Glimmering Now (2012) Starry Skies Open Eyes (2014) Meditations in The Key of Red (2017) Ya Tseen - Indian Yard (2021)

Extended plays

Moves Like Music (2007)

Singles

"Wild Woman" (2011) "Perfect Mistake" (2014) "You and I Should Try Again" (2014) "Impetus Epoch" (2016) "Life Keeps On Spinning" (2017) "All I Sea" (2018) "All Over Town (Ear Dr.umz Rxndition)" (2019)

Guest appearances

Leanne Betasamosake Simpson - "Under Your Always Light - Silver Jackson Remix" from Under Your Always Light (Remixes) (2017)

Publications Nicholas Galanin: Let Them Enter Dancing and Showing Their Faces Nicholas Galanin, Merritt Johnson, Negarra A. Kudumu, Erin Joyce. 1st edition 2018, 2nd edition 2020

Concerts

SE Alaska Cannabis Celebration Sealaska Heritage Celebration: Red Carpet Concert The Heard Museum