Contemporary at Blue Star's first exhibition of 2024, "Indian Removal Act II: And She Was" features local artist and recent alumni of the gallery's Berlin Residency Program, Joe Harjo. This is the second part of a three-part exhibition series that looks at historical and contemporary issues impacting Native American communities.

The title takes its name from the Indian Removal Act of 1830 which forcibly relocated tribes to land west of the Mississippi not yet settled by colonists or within established state borders. Harjo’s own tribe the Muscogee (Creek) Nation were relocated from the eastern coast to Oklahoma.

Harjo’s work highlights the inaccuracies and harmfulness of how mainstream American culture depicts and appropriates Native identities. His practice is multidisciplinary, including performative photo and video works, sculptural and found object, and print and text centric works which subvert the misrepresenting and homogenizing of native peoples.

This exhibition focuses strongly on Muskogee women, specifically the stories of Harjo’s family members to highlight the history of removal policy. The exhibition highlights the shift from matrilineal culture to patriarchy within the Muskogee nation.

Preceding the opening, the public is invited to a Taco Talk, an exhibition walkthrough with the artist, on February 2, at 10:30 am. The exhibition will be on display through May 5.