CUE Art Foundation presents a solo exhibition by John Feodorov
Installation view of John Feodorov's exhibition at CUE Art Foundation. Photo: Sunny Leerasanthanah.
NEW YORK, NY
.-CUE Art Foundation is presenting Assimilations, a solo exhibition by John Feodorov, curated by Ruba Katrib. Drawing upon his experience growing up half-Navajo (Diné) and half-white in the suburbs of Los Angeles, Feodorovs multimedia installation, paintings, and prints explore how identity and memory are shaped amidst the violent pressures of cultural assimilation and the legacy of settler colonialism in the United States.
In the front gallery, Feodorovs installation, How I Learned To Be A Christ-jun, displays Pentecostal and Jehovahs Witness hymn books and pages along with a New Testament Bible translated into the Navajo language in an altar-like space. Manipulated recordings play a Christian congregation singing hymns combined with looped audio of the artists mother and grandfather singing traditional Navajo songs. In the main gallery, large paintings combine the artists family photographs and original photographs, pages from Pentacostal hymn books, symbols of Americana, industrial imagery, Google satellite maps, and natural landscapes with bold fields of textured paint. Combining explorations of representation and legibility with vivid and joyful mark-making, the artist reflects on the violence of white settler culture and federal policies towards Native communities, while at the same time honoring the history, stories, and sacred significance of his family homestead and traditions. The print series, Collectibles, layers the weave of a Navajo rug and stereotypical advertising copy that commodifies Indigenous cultures over his own obscured family photographs, highlighting the medias appropriation and othering of Indigenous people along with corresponding assumptions about their identity and spirituality.