Manifestations: New Native Art Criticism

Featuring 60 biographical essays by 21 indigenous curators, historians, anthropologists and academics, over 100 full-color reproductions and four contextual essays, Manifestations: New Native Art Criticism is the most comprehensive survey of contemporary Native American art to date, and will stand as a landmark publication for years to come. It includes an overview of the last 20 years of Native American art scholarship; addresses the ways in which laws and policies imposed by Federal, tribal and state governments have molded tribal expression; argues for the exercise of indigenous knowledge systems in art criticism; and examines the way in which the memory and knowledge that is encoded within objects can offer a narrative bridge to historic indigenous arts. Ultimately, Manifestations presents more than the history, appraisal and understanding of contemporary indigenous art; it offers an alternative tradition that can broaden the perspectives of contemporary art as a whole.