Exhibit: I Didn't Cross the Border, the Border Crossed Me

March 26, 2010
Contact: Bradley Pecore, 505.428.5912 (ph)
bpecore@iaia.edu

I Didn’t Cross the Border, the Border Crossed Me

Exhibit Explores Arbitrary Boundaries Drawn in Native Communities
By Bradley Pecore

SANTA FE, N.M. – When the United States was founded hundreds of years ago, Indigenous communities were presented with new and arbitrarily drawn borders within their ancestral homelands. A group exhibit, I Didn’t Cross the Border, the Border Crossed Me, at the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts’ Museum Store and Lloyd Kiva New Gallery will investigate the impact these borders have had on Native people. The exhibit opens Saturday, April 17 from 12 noon – 2:00 p.m. at the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts in downtown Santa Fe (108 Cathedral Place) and will continue until May 23. As with all Museum Store exhibits, art work is for sale, and proceeds go to the artists and the Museum.

The physical and cognitive constructions of the United States/Canada and United States/Mexico border have created multidimensional divisions in society associated with nationality, physical borders, family, identity, sovereignty, regional attitudes, human rights, documentation and more. Gallery Associate, Institute of American Indian Arts’ alumnus and show organizer Bradley Pecore says the show will investigate these “…varied perspectives regarding traditional lands and current national boundaries in the modern day Indigenous reality.”

Participating artists include Kimberly Hargrove, Hector Ruiz, Mike Zillioux, Irvin Morazan, Fausto Fernandez, Keary Rosen, David Sloan, Luis Gutierrez and Bob Haozous. Terry and Autumn Gomez are creating a special performance art piece for the exhibit’s opening on April 17 from 12 noon – 2:00 p.m.


For more information about the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, a center of the Institute of American Indian Arts, please visit www.iaiamuseum.org. For more information about this exhibit, please call 505.428.5912.

The Museum of Contemporary Native Arts’ Mission

A leader in the acquisition and presentation of contemporary Native arts, the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts advances scholarship, discourse and understanding through its innovative exhibitions, programs and dialog.
About the Museum
A center of the Institute of American Indian Arts, the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts is home to the largest collection of contemporary Native art in the world. A premier shopping destination, the Museum’s store offers the finest selection of contemporary Native arts and gifts from both emerging and established artists. The Museum is a center of the Institute of American Indian Arts.
Museum hours are Monday – Saturday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday: noon to 5 p.m. Admission has been waived while the main galleries are closed through July 2010.