Questions W/ Dyani White Hawk
A glimpse into the world and work of artists, collaborators, and friends of Prospect New Orleans through unfiltered and contemplative conversations.
Untitled (Pink and Blue), 48x48in., acrylic, oil, glass bugle beads, 24k gold seed beads, sinew, thread on canvas, 2022. Image courtesy of Dyani White Hawk.
Dyani White Hawk is a multimedia artist and independent curator based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. As we move into our sixth iteration of Prospect, Dyani has joined our curatorial advisors team under the leadership of Susan Brennan Co-Artistic Directors Miranda Lash and Ebony G. Patterson.
We had the opportunity to ask Dyani a few of our core questions related to our sixth triennial and talk a bit about her creative process and connection to New Orleans.
Prospect New Orleans: What draws you to the histories, legacies, and communities of New Orleans?
Dyani White Hawk: I spent a month at the Joan Mitchell Center in New Orleans in 2016. The opportunity to become more familiarized with the land and history in this particular geography helped me understand many of the stories of the South. The history of this place and the communities that have shaped it are a valuable and important part of our national history and collective futures. It's an honor to contribute to artistic endeavors in a city as rich with creativity and culture as New Orleans.
P: Which artists and/or thinkers have influenced your creative practice?
DWH: I am influenced by all that I have been raised within…Lakota and Indigenous artists who upheld practices on this landbase for generations, whose names have not been recorded, whose practices were collected but not respected. I am influenced by my community, by the innumerable Native artists practicing today, upholding culture, families and love. I have been influenced by artists like Oscar Howe, Brian Jungen, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Kerry James Marshall, Agnes Martin, Alma Thomas, Frida Kahlo, James Luna, El Anatsui, Nari Ward, John Trudell, Malcolm X, Saul Williams, Layli Long Soldier, Mos Def, Robin Wall Kimmerer, my mother, my daughters, my husband, my family, the community that works in the studio with me…I am influenced by those who are thinking deeply and critically about our history and how it relates to our present, and who are walking towards building healthier futures.
Dyani White Hawk and studio group in front of Wopila|Lineage, 2022, in preparation for the Whitney Biennial. Image courtesy of Dyani White Hawk.
P: What are you most excited about for Prospect.6?
DWH: I'm grateful to have been asked to help think through the Indigenous presence and participation in Prospect.6. The reality is, historically, Native artists have been overlooked within the field of contemporary art. Inclusion of Indigenous voices is vital to understanding the full history of place, the history of the US, and the many ways that history plays out in our current lives. Indigenous history is inextricably connected to all communities who have been affected by the forces of colonization..The greater connectivity we have, the better equipped we are for building stronger, healthier futures practiced in cross-cultural support and celebration.
P: What does it mean to speak from a place, rather than at it?
DWH: It means everything…What does it mean to tell our own stories, from lived experience, rather than someone from outside attempting to tell a story they haven't lived? To me, it simultaneously means agency, authority, and humility. It represents an acknowledgement of relations…being open to learning, to hearing, a willingness to make room for growth, and a deep investment in the health and wellbeing of a place and the life shared within.
Film still from Listen, a multi-channel video installation. 2020. Image courtesy of Dyani White Hawk.
Questions W/ provides glimpse into the world and work of artists, collaborators, and friends of Prospect New Orleans through unfiltered and contemplative conversations. To read more conversations visits our News sections.
About Dyani White Hawk
Dyani White Hawk (Sičaŋǧu Lakota, b.1976, Madison, WI) is a multimedia artist and independent curator based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Through painting, beadwork, installation, performance, and curation her practice challenges the lack of representation of Native arts, people, and voices in our national consciousness while highlighting the truth and necessity of intersectionality and relatedness across life. White Hawk has received numerous awards, including an Arts and Letters Award in Art (2021), McKnight Visual Artist Fellowship (2021 and 2014), United States Artists Fellowship in Visual Art (2019), Eiteljorg Fellowship for Contemporary Art (2019), Jerome Hill Artists Fellowship (2019), Native Arts and Cultures Foundation Fellowship (2017 and 2015), and the Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors Grant (2014). She has participated in residencies in New Orleans, Santa Fe, Australia, Russia and Germany. White Hawk was featured in the 2022 Whitney Biennial and recent solo exhibitions, Speaking to Relatives, at the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver and Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art.
