Uploaded November 2020 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Jeffrey Gibson, an artist of Choctaw and Cherokee descent, incorporates elements of Native American art and craft into his practice, creating a rich visual and conceptual dialogue between his work and the histories that inform it. In Jeffrey Gibson: When Fire Is Applied to a Stone It Cracks, he selected objects from our collection, which are presented alongside his recent work. The resulting multimedia, floor-to-ceiling installation questions long-held institutional categorizations and representations of Indigenous peoples and Native American art. It also provides a context for Gibson’s work and acts as a contemporary lens through which to see historical works by both Indigenous and non-Native peoples.
To create the installation that first greets visitors to the exhibition, Gibson invited the artist John 'Little Sun' Murie, Pawnee and Cree, to create moccasins for The Dying Indian, a 20th-century sculpture by the non-Native artist Charles Cary Rumsey. Both the moccasins and the colorful mural behind them include the words I'M GONNA RUN WITH EVERY MINUTE I CAN BORROW, modified lyrics from a 1971 song by Roberta Flack. Gibson has described himself as a kind of visual DJ, blending music, American history, and contemporary art in ways that challenge expectations and perceptions of Native American art and identity.
Jeffrey Gibson: When Fire Is Applied to a Stone It Cracks
February 14, 2020–January 10, 2021
bit.ly/gibsonbkm
#jeffreygibsonbkm
Video by Anne Sofie Nørskov, Joanne Leonhardt Cassullo Video Fellow, produced by Rachel Lewis
Jeffrey Gibson, an artist of Choctaw and Cherokee descent, incorporates elements of Native American art and craft into his practice, creating a rich visual and conceptual dialogue between his work and the histories that inform it. In Jeffrey Gibson: When Fire Is Applied to a Stone It Cracks, he selected objects from our collection, which are presented alongside his recent work. The resulting multimedia, floor-to-ceiling installation questions long-held institutional categorizations and representations of Indigenous peoples and Native American art. It also provides a context for Gibson’s work and acts as a contemporary lens through which to see historical works by both Indigenous and non-Native peoples.
To create the installation that first greets visitors to the exhibition, Gibson invited the artist John 'Little Sun' Murie, Pawnee and Cree, to create moccasins for The Dying Indian, a 20th-century sculpture by the non-Native artist Charles Cary Rumsey. Both the moccasins and the colorful mural behind them include the words I'M GONNA RUN WITH EVERY MINUTE I CAN BORROW, modified lyrics from a 1971 song by Roberta Flack. Gibson has described himself as a kind of visual DJ, blending music, American history, and contemporary art in ways that challenge expectations and perceptions of Native American art and identity.
Jeffrey Gibson: When Fire Is Applied to a Stone It Cracks
February 14, 2020–January 10, 2021
bit.ly/gibsonbkm
#jeffreygibsonbkm
Video by Anne Sofie Nørskov, Joanne Leonhardt Cassullo Video Fellow, produced by Rachel Lewis
