Breaking the Chains Opening Keynote: Dyani White Hawk

Opening the weekend symposium, Breaking the Chains: The Legacy of Oscar Howe, we welcome the general public for an insightful lecture by visual artist and independent curator, Dyani White Hawk, as she shares more about her work and practice. Reflecting on the life and legacy of artist Oscar Howe, White Hawk considers the ripple effects of his practice in paving the way for contemporary Native artists today.

Dyani White Hawk (Sičáŋǧu Lakota) is a visual artist and independent curator based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. White Hawk earned a MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and BFA from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She served as Gallery Director and Curator for the All My Relations Gallery in Minneapolis. Support for White Hawk’s work has included Anonymous Was a Woman Award, Academy of Arts and Letters Award, McKnight Foundation Fellowship, Carolyn Glasoe Bailey Foundation Minnesota Art Prize, United States Artists Fellowship in Visual Art, Eiteljorg Fellowship for Contemporary Art, Nancy Graves Grant for Visual Artists,  Native Arts and Cultures Foundation Fellowships and Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors Grant. Her work is in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, Walker Art Center, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Denver Art Museum, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, Akta Lakota Museum among other public and private collections.

This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, Bank of America Foundation, Ameriprise Financial, The Standard, and Greg and Cathy Tibbles.