Mįhą́pmąk (A WAY HOME)

Born on the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota, Cannupa Hanska Luger is an enrolled member of the Three Affiliated Tribes of Fort Berthold (Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara) and Lakota. Through his artistic practice, Luger communicates urgent stories about twenty-first century Indigeneity. Incorporating ceramics, steel, textiles, video, and repurposed materials into his work, he combines critical cultural analysis with dedication and respect for the diverse materials, environments, and communities he engages with.
Luger’s work presented here is a reconfiguration of his 2022 solo exhibition A Way Home, incorporating new works. Poetry and video celebrating the topography of his ancestral homelands along the banks of the Missouri River praise the grandeur of the land and convey his respect for the clay he harvests there.
Luger’s ceramic work Ną́ąxįįhe (Grandmother) consists of the artist’s reproductions of two vessels made by hand using predominantly his Mandan ancestral ways, such as a paddling technique (tataki in Japanese). Combining traditional and newer techniques, and merging different clay bodies, Luger reconnects with the knowledge of before that had largely been erased by colonialization, honoring it and recording contemporary practice in an attempt to ensure that future generations can see themselves represented in a living continuum associated with the land. In Awáatireeda (Riverbank), a human figure fabricated from ceramic materials and ropes is reclining peacefully, as if it has finally found its home. While foregrounding Luger’s Indigenous worldview, these works have a universal appeal, drawing our eyes to and generating empathy for our collective humanity.