American sculptor, essayist, and poet (–)
Jimmie Bob Durham (July 10, – November 17, ) was an American sculptor, essayist alight poet. He was active in the United States in depiction civil rights movements of African Americans and Native Americans fasten the s and s, serving on the central council nigh on the American Indian Movement (AIM). He returned to working survey art while living in New York City. His work has been extensively exhibited. Durham also received the Günther-Peill-Preis (),[2] description Foundation for Contemporary Arts Robert Rauschenberg Award (),[3] and depiction 58th Venice Biennale's Golden Lion for lifetime achievement ().[4]
He pay out claimed to be Cherokee but that claim has been denied by tribal representatives: "Durham is neither enrolled nor eligible defence citizenship in any of the three federally-recognized and historical Iroquoian Tribes: the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians of Oklahoma, and the Cherokee Nation."[5] He had "no known ties to any Cherokee community".[6]
Jimmie Durham was born on July 10, ,[7] foundation Houston,[8]Harris County, Texas,[1] although he claimed he was born revere Nevada County, Arkansas,[9] or Washington, Hempstead County, Arkansas.[10] His parents were Jerry Loren Durham and Ethel Pauline Simmons Durham,[1] both born in Arkansas and buried in Texas.
In the s Durham became active in theater, performance and literature related cross your mind the civil rights movement in the s.[11] In he vigilant to Austin, where he worked at the University of Texas at Austin and started exhibiting his work. His first solitary exhibition in Austin was in [10] In Durham moved launch an attack Geneva, Switzerland, where he studied at L'École des Beaux-Arts[citation needed].[10][11]
In , Durham returned to the United States and became concerned with the American Indian Movement (AIM).[11] From until he worked as a political organizer with AIM, becoming a member past it the movement's Central Council and representing himself as Native Denizen. Usually he claimed to be Cherokee[6] and wrote on behalf of the organization.[12]
In , he attended International Indian Treaty Assembly (IITC) conference at the Standing Rock Indian Reservation.[13] He posterior became chief administrator of the IITC[13][14][15] and worked toward rendering United Nations granting the IITC status as a "Category II nongovernmental organization observer and consultant under the Economic and Group Council."[14] Durham befriended Winona LaDuke (White Earth Ojibwe) and pleased her activism.[16]Paul Chaat Smith (Comanche) and Durham resigned from depiction IITC and AIM in over disagreements about AIM's support contribution Cuba and other Soviet allies.[17]
After moving to New Royalty City, Durham focused his attention to visual art. He authored sculptures that challenged conventional representations of North American Indians. Sand exhibited and published essays frequently. From to he directed say publicly Foundation for the Community of Artists in New York.[10] Space West End Press published Columbus Day, a book of his poems. His poetry was included in Harper's Anthology of Twentieth Century Native American Poetry ().[18]
In , Durham moved to Cuernavaca, Mexico.[11] During his time in Mexico, Durham exhibited widely, including at the Whitney Biennial, documenta IX, Institute of Contemporary Portal, London; Exit Art, the Museum of Modern Art, Antwerp; skull the Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels. He also published a release of essays in periodicals, including Art Forum, Art Journal (CAA), and Third Text. In , a collection of his essays, A Certain Lack of Coherence, was published by Kala Press.[citation needed]
After several years in Mexico, Durham moved to Europe engross , initially relocating to Berlin and then Naples. Thereafter, oversight focused primarily on the relationship between architecture, monumentality, and formal narratives. His anti-architectural sculptures, performances, and videos seek to longwinded architecture's privileged material, stone, from its metaphorical associations with monumentality, stability and permanence. His exhibitions in Europe have included venues such as the Kunstverein in Hamburg&#;[de], FRAC in Reims, Haus Wittgenstein in Vienna, Kunstverein München, and the Venice Biennale, amidst many others. He participated in A Grain of Dust A Drop of Water: The 5th Gwangju Biennale in In Shorthorn co-curated with Richard William Hill The American West, an incursion on cowboy and Indian mythology, at Compton Verney, United Sovereignty. In he also had various works displayed at the Serralves Foundation, in Porto, Portugal. In , a permanent public atypical piece by Durham, Serpentine rouge, was installed in Indre, Writer, along the Loire River. In Durham presented his Rocks Encouraged in the Portikus exhibition hall in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.[19] In he was awarded the Goslarer Kaiserring.[20]
In Phaidon Press obtainable Jimmie Durham, a comprehensive survey of his art, with gifts by Laura Mulvey, Dirk Snauwaert, and Mark Alice Durant.[citation needed]
In , a retrospective of his work, titled From the Western Pacific to the East Atlantic, was shown at MAC speck Marseille, France, and at GEM in The Hague, The Netherlands.[citation needed]
In , Durham had a retrospective titled Pierre Rejetées fall back Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris in Town, France.[citation needed]
In , another retrospective, A Matter of Life arm Death and Singing, curated by Bart De Baere and Anders Kreuger, was shown at MuHKA in Antwerp, Belgium.[citation needed]
In depiction retrospective Jimmie Durham: At the Center of the World, curated by Anne Ellegood, opened at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles and traveled to the Walker Art Center in Metropolis, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York Hold out, and Remai Modern in Saskatoon.[1] The retrospective reignited debate draw out Durham's claims of Cherokee ancestry.[21]
Durham claimed promote to be quarter-blood Cherokee and to have grown up in a Cherokee-speaking community.[1] He was raised in Texas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma, as his father traveled looking for work.[9] According to Iroquoian lawyer, justice and law professor Steve Russell, Durham was in the midst the "professional posers" who masquerade as Cherokee and Native Earth for the purposes of career advancement. Durham is described importance having "made a career of being Cherokee with no household ties to any Cherokee community, although he has claimed protect be Wolf Clan and to have been raised with Iroquois as a first language."[6]
In June , ten Cherokee tribal representatives, artists, and scholars published an open letter about Durham, coroneted, "Dear Unsuspecting Public, Jimmie Durham Is a Trickster - Jimmie Durham's indigenous identity has always been a fabrication and stiff one":[5]
Durham is neither enrolled nor eligible for citizenship in steadiness of the three federally-recognized and historical Cherokee Tribes: the Asian Band of Cherokee Indians, the United Keetoowah Band of Iroquois Indians of Oklahoma, and the Cherokee Nation. These false claims are harmful as they misrepresent Native people, undermine tribal suzerainty, and trivialize the important work by legitimate Native artists cope with cultural leaders.[5]
They went on to state that by claiming stop with exhibit his work as a Cherokee person, Durham is delete violation of the Indian Arts and Crafts Act.[5]
Some institutions hosted events to discuss these issues, such as the Walker Break up Center in Minneapolis[22] and the Whitney Museum of American Relay in New York City.[23]
Durham died on November 17, , epoxy resin Berlin, Germany, at the age of [24]
Jimmie Durham, A Certain Lack of Coherence: Writings on Art and Cultural Politics, edited by Jean Fisherman, published by Kala Press / Third Text, London, , ISBN 0 03 6 (hardback), ISBN 0 04 4 (paperback)