Jeffrey Gibson is a Mississippi Choctaw-Cherokee multi-disciplinary artist, working with subject matter which interfaces with the rubrics of fashion, gender, and indigenous cultures of the Americas. Gibson intertwines the delicate craftsmanship of indigenous artisans, including beadwork, leatherwork, and quilting, with the modern narratives of resistance found in protest slogans and song lyrics. This fusion, described by Felicia Feaster as a “blend of confrontation and pageantry,” is further accentuated by a feeling of fluidity and performance, as if these pieces are awaiting a dancer to breathe life into them. By employing these materials and methods, the artist empowers overlooked stories, while embracing historically marginalized identities.
Gibson has had solo exhibitions at Brooklyn Art Museum, The New Museum, New York, Seattle Art Museum, Madison Museum of Art, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, Denver Art Museum, and SITE Santa Fe. Gibson’s work is included in the permanent collections of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art; Denver Art Museum; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; National Gallery of Canada; Portland Art Museum; Seattle Art Museum; Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian, Washington; and The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, among many others. Gibson is a recipient of numerous awards, notably a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship (2019); Joan Mitchell Foundation, Painters and Sculptors Award (2012); and Creative Capital Foundation Grant (2005). Gibson is the Indigenous artist to represent the United States at the Venice Biennale.
Tamarind Talks: Jeffrey Gibson
Recorded on October 28, 2021 while Gibson was in residency at Tamarind Institute.
