Neon American Anthem (Blue)
2024
Neon
Culture is rooted in connection to land; like land, culture cannot be contained. I am inspired by generations of Lingít & Unangax̂ creative production and knowledge connected to the land I belong to. From this perspective I engage across cultures with contemporary conditions.
My process of creation is a constant pursuit of freedom and vision for the present and future. Using Indigenous and non-Indigenous technologies and materials I resist romanticization, categorization and limitation. I use my work to explore adaptation, resilience, survival, active cultural amnesia, dream, memory, cultural resurgence, connection to and disconnection from the land.
Neon American Anthem (blue) is a participatory installation designed to activate the National Liberty Museum. The work offers visitors a place to kneel and follow the directive of a neon sign on the wall that reads: “I’ve composed a new American national anthem: take a knee and scream until you can’t breathe.”
The work creates an intersectional space for catharsis: to mourn the loss of lives, freedoms and safety for people and Lands subjected to American violence, and to protest continuing oppression.
The neon sign embodies capitalism, its text a pointed reference to the murders of Eric Garner, George Floyd, Tyre Nichols and all people of color who have been murdered at the hands of police and agents of the American state. Asking participants to take a knee is a position of deference turned refusal; to scream until you can’t breathe encompasses protest aimed at tearing down the systems built to enforce whiteness, white privilege, heteropatriarchy and capitalist control.
About the artist
Nicholas Galanin is a Lingit/Unangax̂ multi-disciplinary artist. His work engages contemporary culture from his perspective rooted in connection to land. He embeds incisive observation into his work, investigating intersections of culture and concept in form, image and sound. Galanin's works embody critical thought as vessels of knowledge, culture and technology - inherently political, generous, unflinching, and poetic. Galanin engages past, present and future to expose intentionally obscured collective memory and barriers to the acquisition of knowledge. His works critique commodification of culture, while contributing to the continuum of Tlingit art. Galanin employs materials and processes that expand dialogue on Indigenous artistic production, and how culture can be carried.
Galanin apprenticed with master carvers, earned his BFA at London Guildhall University, and his MFA at Massey University.
Galanin’s artwork has been included in the Liverpool Biennial, Desert X Biennial, Biennale of Sydney, Whitney Biennial, Honolulu Biennial, and Venice Biennale Native American Pavilion among others. Solo exhibitions include Baltimore Museum of Art, MD, SITE Santa Fe, NM, New York Public Art Fund, Heard Museum, AZ, among others.
His work is in numerous permanent collections including The Museum of Modern Art, NY, Whitney Museum of Art, NY, Brooklyn Museum, NY, Seattle Art Museum, WA, Phillips Collection, Washington, DC, Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA, Art Institute of Chicago, IL, among others. Among his other awards, Galanin is a 2024 Guggenheim Fellow.