September 16 -18, 2020
solo show by Marina Sachs
Pop. 171 is a series of images taken on the Cheyenne River Reservation and a dialogue around the making of those images. How have images been used to perpetuate harm against marginalized folks? What are the roles and the responsibilities of the white photographer in the present moment?
WATCH OPENING: q+a with artist and curator
WATCH CLOSING: panel discussion with Marina and Itazipacola Oohenunpa Lakota photographer Dawnee Lebeau and Minicoujou Lakota film director Ben-Alex Dupris.
The 35mm photographs, generated by Marina Sachs (MFA Studio Art, Photography) during their time spent in the community of La Plant, show incomplete glimpses of spaces, sites, and objects of La Plant and the surrounding land. The information outside the frame-- the relationships, lived experiences, stories, and community-members of La Plant-- are the most crucial components of this exhibition. Additionally, the documents included in this exhibition seek to provide context to the images, as well as laying bare the systemic inequalities that allowed for the project to occur. This work is just as much a critique of itself as it is a presentation of images.
Through virtual conversations, documents, and a panel discussion with Black and Indigenous lens-based artists, this exhibition seeks to hold space for dialogue around issues of representation, systemic racism, and white supremacy, and asks white artists to consider how their commitments to dismantling systems of oppression intersect within their research and practice.
MARINA SACHS is a multimedia artist and organizer currently living in Gainesville, FL. Their work includes the practice of 35mm photography, site-specific installations, and mixed-media sculpture and painting.
Leveraging a female gaze perspective, their research and studio practice primarily examines desire (specifically through addiction and commodified femme bodies) as played out in private and public spaces in contemporary capitalism. Their work aims to produce “future” images, collaborative queer alternatives, and transformative antidotes to the realities of the American dreamscape. For commissions and sales, visit www.marinasachs.com @marina2mp3
To learn more about the Lakota Youth Speak project, connect with @lakotayouthspeak