Nicholas Galanin, holds to his ear a 'headset' that appears to be made of basket-weaving material.
Nicholas Galanin will speak at UCSB on April 19. Credit: Courtesy photo

UCSB Arts & Lectures (A&L) will present artist Nicholas Galanin in a program called Let Them Enter Dancing and Showing Their Faces, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 19 at Campbell Hall.

Proclaimed a “standout” by The New York Times, multidisciplinary artist Galanin explores conceptions and misconceptions surrounding Indigenous identity.

Galanin’s sculptures and multimedia installations intersect in form, image and sound, offering perspectives rooted in connection to the land and broad engagement with contemporary culture.

In the illustrated presentation at UCSB, Galanin, who is of Tlingit and Unangax̂ descent and a citizen of Alaska’s Sitka Tribe, will show how he employs materials and processes that expand dialogue on Indigenous artistic production, and how culture can be carried.

Galanin’s work is rooted in his perspective as an Indigenous man connected to the land and culture he belongs to. His work is embedded with incisive observation and critical thinking to advocate social and environmental justice.

Galanin’s work expands and refocuses the intersections of culture, centering Indigeneity through concept, form, image and sound.

Engaging with past, present and future, Galanin celebrates the beauty, knowledge and resilience of Indigenous people. His work counters assimilation; insisting on differences as strengths.

Rejecting binaries and categorization, Galanin works to envision, build and support Indigenous sovereignty.

Galanin’s practice includes customary cultural objects, petroglyphs in sidewalks and coastal rock, masks cut from anthropological texts, and a taxidermized polar bear melting into a pool of its own fur.

In 2020 Galanin excavated the shape of the shadow of the Captain James Cook statue in Hyde Park for the Biennale of Sydney, examining the effects of colonization on land, critiquing anthropological bias, and ultimately suggesting the burial of the statue and others like it.

In 2021 he created a replica of the Hollywood sign for the Desert X Biennial in Palm Springs CA, which reads “INDIAN LAND,” directly advocating for and supporting the land back and real rent initiatives.

Galanin holds a BFA from London Guildhall University in Jewelry Design and an MFA in Indigenous Visual Arts from Massey University in New Zealand.

Galanin lives and works with his family on Lingít Aani, Sitka, Alaska.