Curator of the 27th Drawing Show at the Mills Gallery

 

Erin Genia (she/her), Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota, is a multidisciplinary artist, educator and cultural worker specializing in Native American and Indigenous peoples’ arts and culture. Genia’s work in these areas is focused on amplifying the powerful presence of Indigenous peoples on the occupied lands of America in the arts, sciences and public realm to invoke an evolution of thought and practice that is aligned with the cycles of the natural world and the potential of humanity. Genia’s artistic practice merges Dakota cultural imperatives, pure expression, and exploration of materiality with the conceptual. Erin is fluent in multiple modes of expression: sculpture, fiber, sound, performance, digital media, painting, printmaking, jewelry and ceramics. Genia served as an artist in residence for the City of Boston and developed a project, “Cultural Emergency Response,” that creatively repurposes disaster planning methods to address complex issues like climate change, institutional racism, ecological destruction and economic inequality from a decolonial lens.