An Infected Sunset

Demian DinéYazhi’

Demian DinéYazhi’’s An Infected Sunset consists of excerpts from the artist’s poem of the same name, layered over moving images of alternating bodies of sand and water. This source poem, conceived on the heels of the tragic massacre at the gay nightclub Pulse in Orlando, Florida, the threat of pipelines on sacred site at Standing Rock (#NoDAPL), and state-sanctioned executions of Black men, speaks truthfully to the uninhibited and intertwined horrors of the white supremacist, capitalist, hetero-patriarchal, settler colonial state. In the video, DinéYazhi ́ speaks back at these violent legacies and the racist present to offer an invocation to queer intimacy, Indigenous knowledge-making and remembering, and shared resistance. More than an artist, DinéYazhi ́ is a truth teller.Born to the clans of Naasht’ézhí Tábąąhá (Zuni Clan Water’s Edge) and Tódích’íí’nii (Bitter Water) in New Mexico, DinéYazhi ́ is an artist, poet, curator, and founder of RISE: Radical Indigenous Survivance & Empowerment. Their transdisciplinary practice spans poetry, performance, publication, and visual art making visible and legible the historical, unresolved, and continuing violence of colonization—as well as its current heteropatriarchal manifestations—for Indigenous and marginalized peoples, centering Indigenous knowledge and cosmology towards liberation and survivance.

Demian DinéYazhi’ is a Portland-based Diné transdisciplinary artist, poet, and curator born to the clans Naasht’ézhí Tábąąhá (Zuni Clan Water’s Edge) & Tódích’íí’nii (Bitter Water). Their practice is a regurgitation of purported Decolonial praxis informed by the over accumulation and exploitative supremacist nature of hetero-cis-gendered communities post colonization. They are a survivor of attempted european genocide, forced assimilation, manipulation, sexual and gender violence, capitalist sabotage, and hypermarginalization in a colonized country that refuses to center their politics and philosophies around the Indigenous Peoples whose Land they occupy and refuse to give back. They live and work in a post-post-apocalyptic world unafraid to fail.

PJ Gubatina Policarpio is an educator, curator, programmer, writer, and community organizer. He is the Manager of Youth Development at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (de Young Museum / Legion of Honor) where he designs and implements dynamic and relevant youth programming, especially addressing a diverse, multilingual, and multicultural audience. PJ’s thought leadership in museum education, youth development, and arts administration has advanced institutions such as The Contemporary Jewish Museum, Brooklyn Museum, Queens Museum, and The Museum of Modern Art. He has presented at conferences nationally including the American Alliance of Museums (New Orleans, Washington DC), College Art Association (Los Angeles), and National Art Education Association (NewYork City). He has delivered keynotes, lectures, and participated in panel discussions at California College of the Arts, Maryland Institute College of Art, University of California at Berkeley, New York Art Book Fair, Cooper Hewitt, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Parsons School of Design, University of Illinois at Chicago, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts and more. He has organized readings, exhibitions, publications, and public programming at Southern Exposure, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Asian Art Museum, Dixon Place, NURTUREart, and other unnameable spaces. PJ is co-founder of Pilipinx American Library (PAL), an itinerant collection and programming platform dedicated exclusively to diasporic Filipinx perspectives. He serves on Southern Exposure’s Curatorial Council and SOMA Pilipinas Cultural District’s Arts and Culture Committee.

Notes for Tomorrow is a traveling exhibition organized and produced by Independent Curators International (ICI) and initiated by Frances Wu Giarratano, Jordan Jones, Becky Nahom, Renaud Proch, and Monica Terrero. The exhibition was made possible with the generous support of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, VIA Art Fund and ICI’s Board of Trustees and International Forum.
 

We are on Treaty 1 Territory. Plug In ICA is located on the territories of the Anishinaabeg, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota, and Dene peoples, and the homeland of the Métis Nation. Our water is sourced from Shoal Lake 40 First Nation.

Plug In ICA extends our heartfelt gratitude to our generous donors, valued members, and dedicated volunteers. We acknowledge the sustaining support of our Director’s Circle. You all make a difference.

We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Canada Council, the Manitoba Arts Council and Winnipeg Arts Council. We could not operate without their continued financial investment and lobbying efforts.

Plug In ICA relies on community support to remain free and accessible to all, and enable us to continue to present excellent programs. Please consider becoming a member of Plug In ICA and a donor at https://plugin.org/support or by contacting Erin at erin@plugin.org.

For more information on public programming and exhibitions contact Allison Yearwood at allison@plugin.org.

For general information, please contact: info@plugin.org or call 1.204.942.1043