Artist Cannupa Hanska Luger's New Show Highlights Buffalo Slaughter

New York, October 2023. Cannupa Hanska Luger's latest exhibition at Garth Greenan Gallery features sculptures that highlight the slaughter of bison by European settlers during westward expansion. The show includes an abstracted bison crafted from ironstone clay and sumi ink, and a stack of buffalo skulls on a surface with vintage axes for table legs.

The sculptures are monochromatic and sit on a burned and blackened 19th-century American dining table. The artist's work is described as his strongest yet, with a haunting quality that embeds the violent history of the buffalo slaughter into each element.

The exhibition comes two years after an intervention by Yurok artist Stormi Turner at the Baltimore Museum of Art. Turner covered an 1892 image of two men with a hill of buffalo skulls with a small wall-mounted curtain. This intervention aimed to acknowledge the tragedy of the buffalo slaughter and the care demanded by such a crime, similar to how human remains are often displayed in museums.

Luger's work is part of a broader conversation about the representation of indigenous experiences and the acknowledgment of historical atrocities. The sculptures serve as a reminder of the symbiotic relationship many Native American groups and communities had with the buffalo, which was disrupted by European settlers.

CONTEXT: Luger's work is significant because it brings attention to a often overlooked part of American history. The buffalo slaughter was a key event in the displacement and near-extermination of many Native American tribes. By highlighting this history, Luger contributes to the ongoing dialogue about indigenous rights and the representation of Native American experiences in contemporary art.