Intimate expression: 'Broken Boxes: A Decade of Art, Action and Dialogue' celebrates personal stories
Sep. 1—A colossal wolf sculpture quilted in embroidered bandanas from across the globe.
Floating metal "jingle clouds" fashioned from the curled cones traditionally found on clothing for Native dances.
A royal blue fiber tapestry constructed of mirrored glass.
These are just some of the works created by 23 artists in "Broken Boxes: A Decade of Art, Action and Dialogue" open at the Albuquerque Museum from Sept. 7 through March 2, 2025. Spanning nearly the entirety of the museum, the exhibit features installations, sculpture and video.
This celebration of artists' personal stories and their impact upon their communities began with a podcast of the same name by co-curator Ginger Dunnill 10 years ago. It centers around bringing contemporary artists together.
"It was meant to be a large format conversation with artists she was encountering," co-curator Josie Lopez said. "Every artist in the show has been showing at the Metropolitan (Museum of Art) or the Whitney (Museum of American Art.)"
Tsdaye Makonnen's "Astral Sea Series" (2021) pays homage to immigrants who have died crossing the Mediterranean. The daughter of Ethiopian immigrants, the artist is driven by Black feminist theory, firsthand site-specific research, and ethical social practice techniques.
Seneca Nation artist Marie Watt created "Each/Other," the large wolf sculpture, with New Mexico-based Cannupa Hanska Luger (Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara and Lakota) from 2020-21.
Watt is also bringing her "Sky Dances Light" of jingle clouds, a piece shown at the Denver Art Museum.
"She's assembled them into incredible sculptures for the exhibition space," Lopez said. "You can hear them and see and feel how they work. It looks like a cloud. It's going to be suspended from the exhibition space."
Luger also created "Blood Lust," 2022, a flattened tent made of acrylic on canvas and mixed-media.
"He is playing with ideas around Indian futurism," Lopez said. "How can we use our creativity and connections with each other to imagine a future different from what we see today? It's re-thinking how we exist in this world."
The paint designs recall the cheesecake figures often decorating World War II fighter jet noses, questioning the impact the military has had on Indigenous communities.
Amaryllis R. Flowers is a Queer Puerto Rican American artist living and working in upstate New York. Raised between multiple cities and rural communities across America in a constantly shifting landscape, her practice explores themes of hybridity, mythology and sexuality. She created "Cosmic Yolk" using paper, fire, watercolor, colored pencil and collage.
Eight hot pink naked femme cyclops float in a field of smoky black dots. Their hair floats on either side of their faces like light rays.
"We can all be respected and part of these larger stories," Lopez said. "How do we build empathy? How do we create unity for people to see the world in all of its complexities?"
Flowers will bring a new piece to the exhibition.
Seminole filmmaker Sterlin Harjo, director of the acclaimed TV series "Reservation Dogs," also will appear.
The exhibition includes the following local and international artists: Tanya Agui?a, Natalie Ball, CASSILS, Autumn Chacon, Raven Chacon, India Sky Davis, Jeremy Dennis, Kate De Ciccio, Amaryllis R. Flowers, Sterlin Harjo, Elisa Harkins, Christine Howard Sandoval, Cannupa Hanska Luger, Tsedaye Makonnen, Guadalupe Maravilla, Laura Ortman, Katherine Paul (Black Belt Eagle Scout), Joseph M. Pierce, SWOON, Chip Thomas, Marie Watt, Saya Woolfalk and Mario Ybarra Jr.