Performagraphic - James Luna

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James Luna and Sheila Skinner

Courtesy of Mountain Standard Time Performative Art Festival Society.

Performagraphic presents a powerful collection of photographic and video works created between 2010 - 2014, referencing his artistic career of over 30 years. In Performagraphic, the viewer finds the merging of Luna's performance ideals into photographic stills that exist as much more than documentation but rather standalone images addressing cultural identity, representation/history, and the spiritual world.

Approaching his work head on, with biting humour and irony, Luna's powerful works transform the gallery space into a battlefield, where the audience is confronted with the nature of cultural identity, the tensions generated by cultural isolation, and the dangers of cultural misinterpretations from an Indigenous perspective. Performagraphic is more a lesson in expressive bodywork than that of standard photography presentation.

To coincide with the opening of Performagraphic, Mountain Standard Time Performative Art Festival, The University of Calgary, and TRUCK Contemporary Art are proud to present ISHI: The Archive Performance with James Luna and Sheila Skinner.

Mountain Standard Time Performative Art Festival Society, the University of Calgary, and TRUCK Contemporary Art in Calgary presents a performance written and performed by James Luna and featuring artist Sheila Skinner. Together they tell the story of Ishi, an Indigenous man who walked into the small northern California town of Oroville. It was decided that for his welfare and for the advancement of science that he would occupy the Museum on the University of California Berkeley’s campus, where he lived out his remaining years as a living specimen.

The archives suggest there is more to this story, which has never been told. James Luna has created a performance that explores this significant life. Many questions about Ishi’s experience, both mysterious and uncomfortable are evoked by this performance. Ishi’s story remains as a grim reminder of Western fascination with Indigenous cultures and its detrimental disregard of humans, forgetting that we are all sentient beings.

Following the performance, James Luna’s Performagraphic will open at 8:00pm at TRUCK Contemporary Art in Calgary. For more information please see TRUCK’s website: www.truck.ca

The performance will be held at West Village Theatre (2007 10th Ave SW) at 7:00pm.

Tickets will be available on Eventbrite for $15.