Post by deanna on Jun 7, 2017 7:09:24 GMT -7
SUMMER 2017 EXHIBITION OPENING
LONG ENVIRONMENTALISM IN THE NEAR NORTH
SUBHANKAR BANERJEE: ACTIVISM – PHOTOGRAPHS – WRITING
June 6, 2017 - November 11, 2017
Opening reception | Saturday, June 17, 4:00 – 7:00PM
Curated by Arif Khan, Director, University of New Mexico Art Museum & Subhankar Banerjee, Lannan Foundation Endowed Chair of Land Arts of the American West and Professor of Art & Ecology in the Department of Art at UNM.
In a recent essay Subhankar Banerjee coined the term ‘long environmentalism’ to draw attention to environmental justice engagements that last, not merely weeks or years, but decades, and become inter-generational. The exhibition presents a selection of his photographs, writing, lectures, interviews and other activist initiatives over the past sixteen years that collectively continue to contribute to the long environmentalism in Arctic North America. It highlights the resistance movements and coalitional politics to stop destructive fossil fuels development projects in lands and waters in Arctic Alaska, which are home to an incredible chorus of biotic life and have sustained, nutritionally, culturally and spiritually, the Gwich’in and the Iñupiat indigenous communities for millennia. The exhibition also includes a photograph from Siberia that alludes to what anthropologist Piers Vitebsky has called ‘Outliving the Empire’.
Residents of the lower latitude generally consider the Arctic as the ‘Far North’, a place disconnected from their daily lives and concerns. Banerjee’s work urges us to consider the Arctic instead as the ‘Near North’, a place that connects us all in material and intangible ways. The Arctic is the bellwether of climate change as it continues to warm at a rate of at least twice the global average, and yet paradoxically, the Arctic and non-Arctic nation states are pushing hard to exploit its fossil fuels reserves, the burning of which will only exacerbate Arctic warming, and which in turn will affect the whole planet as the top of the Earth is the integrator of our planet’s climate systems. Engaging in ‘long environmentalism’ we may derail this suicidal trajectory.
Subhankar Banerjee is Lannan Foundation Endowed Chair of Land Arts of the American West and Professor of Art & Ecology in the Department of Art at UNM. He is convener of the recent UNM environmental justice public forum “Decolonizing Nature”, and is currently working to establish a new interdisciplinary center at UNM, Center for Environmental Arts and Humanities
The UNM Art Museum would like to thank the Lannan Foundation for their generous support of this exhibition.
PhotoSummer Kick-Off Party
Music, Food, Photography & Celebration
Saturday, June 17 | 4:00-7:00PM
Join UNM Art Museum for a PhotoSummer kick-off party!
Start the evening off with a Curator’s talk by Subhankar Banerjee and Arif Khan about the exhibition, “Long Environmentalism in the Near North | Subhankar Banerjee – Activism, Photographs, Writing." Then from 5-7pm, join the celebration with delicious treats from My Sweet Basil, tasty beverages generously provided by Marble Brewery (for 21+ guests), projected protest art presented by Axle Contemporary, and a fantastic visual/audio experience by DJ Caterwaul from LowLife Vids'n'Vinyl.
The UNM Art Museum is located within the Center for the Arts complex off Redondo Drive near the UNM Bookstore. From I-25 North or South, exit Central Avenue and travel east for approximately 1 mile. Parking is available at the Parking Garage, east of the Center for the Arts at Redondo Drive and Stanford.
Hours:
Open Tuesday - Friday: 10:00 am - 4:00 pm, Saturday 10:00 am - 8:00 pm
Closed on Sundays, Mondays and major holidays
Admission:
FREE and open to the public, a $5 donation is suggested to support exhibitions.
For more information visit www.unmartmuseum.org or call 505.277.4001