2023
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Rest in Power
2023
Mixed media (graphite, watercolor, acrylic, ink, charcoal pencil) and collage on archival paper
22 x 30 inches
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Pour Into Me
2023
Mixed media (graphite, watercolor, acrylic, ink, charcoal pencil) and collage on archival paper
22 x 30 inches
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Spider Woman's Jaws
2023
Leather, seed beads, thread, acrylic paint, faux fur, artificial sinew, and plastic corn pellets
15.5 x 8 x 4 inches
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She's Raring to Go
2021
(altered in 2023)
Found skateboard truck, black horse hair, thread, and screws
27 x 2.5 x 3.5 inches
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Hooked
2022
Found metal hook, cream leather, thread, black seed beads, and single screw
26.5 x 4 x 1.75 inches
2022
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Jane Roe
2022
Leather, seed beads, thread, acrylic paint, faux fur, artificial sinew, and plastic corn pellets
9 x 10 x 2 inches
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Pinky and the Brain
2022
Satin, seed beads, thread, acrylic paint, faux fur, artificial sinew, and plastic corn pellets
1.5 x 13 x 5 inches
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Purple Mass
2022
Leather, seed beads, thread, acrylic paint, faux fur, artificial sinew, and plastic corn pellets
3.5 x 10 x 4 inches
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C-section
2022
Leather, seed beads, thread, acrylic paint, faux fur, artificial sinew, and plastic corn pellets
2.5 x 24 x 4 inches
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Mohawk Baby
2022
Leather, seed beads, thread, acrylic paint, faux fur, artificial sinew, and plastic corn pellets
7 x 4 x 13.5 inches
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Hero Twins
2022
Leather, seed beads, thread, acrylic paint, faux fur, artificial sinew, and plastic corn pellets
2 x 14 x 7 inches
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Justice For
2022
Mixed media (graphite, watercolor, acrylic, ink, charcoal pencil) and collage on archival paper
22 x 30 inches
24 x 32 inches framed
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Navajo Leg with a Fishnet Stocking
2022
Mixed media (graphite, watercolor, acrylic, ink, charcoal pencil) and collage on archival paper
22 x 30 inches
24 x 32 inches framed
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Flesh Freedom
2022
Mixed media (graphite, watercolor, acrylic, ink, charcoal pencil) and collage on archival paper
22 x 30 inches
24 x 32 inches framed
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Grabbing For Land
2022
Mixed media (graphite, watercolor, acrylic, ink, charcoal pencil) and collage on archival paper
22 x 30 inches
24 x 32 inches framed
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Reaching Back
2022
Mixed media (graphite, watercolor, acrylic, ink, charcoal pencil) and collage on archival paper
22 x 30 inches; 24 x 32 inches framed
Montage Health Art Collection.
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Carrying On
2022
Mixed media (graphite, watercolor, acrylic, ink, charcoal pencil) and collage on archival paper
22 x 30 inches; 24 x 32 inches framed
Montage Health Art Collection.
KITE & NATANI NOTAH: IN THE REALM OF MIRACLES
Natani Notah’s new works explore connections between bodies, objects, and landforms. Central to the work is the concept of harmony and important questions surrounding contemporary existence and legality. How do we find beauty or balance in a chaotic and often violent world? What kinds of attacks are being wagered and how do we survive them? Notah’s series of mixed media drawings collage fragments together to provide space for alternative bodies and thoughts to exist simultaneously. Familiar and unfamiliar figures float, reach, and walk toward someone or something else. In a similar vein, her sculptures reference abstract limbs that are both human and nonhuman. Each piece is adorned with brightly beaded patches that look like freckles and tumors, while tufts of artificial fur allude to mammals or new life forms. In all, Notah’s practice highlights where history, politics, land, and human rights converge.
Photograph by Michael Noble Jr.
2021
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One Synonym of Tumor is Enemy
2021
Father’s old t-shirt, leather scraps, seed beads, plastic beads, thread, faux fur, artificial sinew, and plastic pellets
14 x 12 x 12 inches
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Trawled
2021
Leather scraps, seed beads, thread, acrylic paint, faux fur, artificial sinew, and plastic corn pellets
34 x 6 1/2 x 3 1/4 inches
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One Antonym of Catch is Release
2021
Digital pigment print
24 x 20 inches
Photograph made with support from Vanessa Morales
Edition of 3 plus 2 AP
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There Are No Synonyms for Cradleboard
2021
Digital pigment print
20 x 24 inches
Photograph made with support from Vanessa Morales
Edition of 3 plus 2 AP
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Strapped
2021
Leather scraps, seed beads, thread, faux fur, artificial sinew, and plastic corn pellets
21 x 8 x 6 inches
Private Art Collection.
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Shell-shocked
2021
Vintage Four Corners t-shirt, white shell beads, thread, faux fur, pleather belt, and plastic corn pellets
15 x 11 x 8 inches
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Outfoxed
2021
Land O'Lakes apron, leather scraps, jean fabric, seed beads, thread, acrylic paint, faux fur, artificial sinew, old laundry hanger, and plastic corn pellets
24 x 17 x 18 inches
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Dragged
2021
Video still
Video duration: 1 minute, 26 seconds
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Over 25 Million Lives
2019
Mixed media drawing and collage on archival paper
30 x 23 inches
NATANI NOTAH: NORMAL FORCE
Titled Normal Force, the show references Newton's third law - when two objects interact, they apply forces to each other of equal magnitude and opposite direction - as a point of entry to theorize the parallels of physical energy and power and how those pressures directly affect Native people.
The exhibition highlights Notah’s mixed-media process, featuring a drawing from 2019, accompanied by a new series of soft sculptures, photographs, and video. Utilizing many traditional modes of making, Notah draws upon both intensely personal and universal elements to make work that has a strong presence within the space of fine art.
The female is a unifying factor throughout Notah’s work and she often uses her own physicality as a benchmark. Sculptures relate to the dimensions of Notah's body and are akin to limbs and extensions swathed in secondhand clothing belonging to strangers and family members. The familiar yet abstract, disembodied yet independent forms are equally unsettling and enticing. They hint to various interpretations of “force,” while also glittering with patches of appliqué beadwork meant to challenge preconceived narratives. The former is fully realized when sewn together with fabrics that have a history of being worn, thus reminding us to think about the role of human touch, mortality, and the passing of time.
Photograph by Robert Divers Herrick.
2020/ 2019
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Uncontrollable
2020
Leather scraps, seed beads, thread, acrylic paint, faux fur, artificial sinew, and plastic corn pellets.
22 x 3.5 x 6.5 inches
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Addiction
2019
Leather scraps, seed beads, thread, acrylic paint, faux fur, artificial sinew, and plastic corn pellets, dimensions variable.
21 x 5 x 3 inches
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Inner Child
2019
Leather scraps, jean fabric, seed beads, thread, acrylic paint, faux fur, artificial sinew, and plastic corn pellets.
16 x 4 x 3 inches
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Dignity
2019
Leather scraps, seed beads, thread, acrylic paint, faux fur, artificial sinew, and plastic corn pellets.
23 x 6 x 3 inches
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Keep Runnin'
2019
Mixed media drawing and collage on archival paper
30 x 23 inches
Private Art Collection.
NATIVE FEMINISMS, apexart, New York City
“Native Feminisms showcases the aesthetic richness and political power of artworks produced by contemporary Native North American artists whose practices address intersectional issues of feminisms and indigeneity …
Today, issues regarding women's rights, elders' protection, and environmental concerns are critical for many North Americans, particularly in the contexts of the #MeToo Movement, the COVID-19 pandemic, and continued fossil fuel extraction. The artists in this exhibition grapple with the specific ways Native communities experience these and other concerns, addressing decolonization efforts, feminine aesthetic traditions, Indigenous ecocriticism, customs of gender fluidity, violence against Native women and Two-Spirit peoples, and Indigenous futurisms. The breadth of these topics and their historical and contemporary relevance suggest the discursive potential of Native feminisms, taken up by the participating artists in ways that visually vary but uniformly insist on Native survivance.”
Photograph by Gregory Carideo.
2017-2019
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Red (Blood), White (Gold), and Blue (Ocean) Bolo
2017
Leather, glass seed beads, found map, glass fragments, bottle cap, and thread
5'5" tall
Meta Open Arts Collection.
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When Saturn Cracks, White Tears Will Follow Bolo
2018
Leather, glass seed beads, found shell, bicycle reflectors, brake light fragment, and thread
5'7" tall
Meta Open Arts Collection.
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I Dreamt an Asteroid Came, Mother’s Way of Protecting Herself Bolo
2018
Leather, glass seed beads, found advertisement, metal washers, plastic shard, and thread
6'2" tall
Meta Open Arts Collection.
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Try to Kill Us and We Will Blossom Bolo
2018
Leather, glass seed beads, buttons, cotton fabric, found bottle cap, lenses, rock, and thread
5'10" tall
Meta Open Arts Collection.
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Our Land, From CA to the NY Island Bolo
2018
Leather, glass seed beads, found clothing tag, brake light fragment, feather, metal washer, glass, and thread
5'4" tall
Meta Open Arts Collection.
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For a Love of People, Her Moon Crossed Landscapes Bolo
2018
Leather, glass seed beads, found broken glass, metal washers, plastic, and thread
6' tall
Meta Open Arts Collection.
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White Shell Woman Is Here Bolo
2017
Leather, glass seed beads, mother of pearl, turquoise, and thread
5'10" tall
Meta Open Arts Collection.
SEVEN GENERATIONS OF BOLO TIES, Meta Open Arts, San Francisco
This series was produced over the course of two years (from 2017-2019) and consists of seven giant bolo ties featuring hand beaded medallions and braided leather ropes. Conceptually, this work was inspired by the Seventh Generation Principle, which is an Indigenous philosophy that the decisions we make today should result in a sustainable world seven generations into the future. While making this work I was thinking about our country’s complicated history and how those events continue to impact all of us. Extremely relevant today, each bolo tie features abstract beadwork that speaks to the previous ideas, while simultaneously bringing up questions about progress and belonging.
Photograph by Meta Open Arts.