Artist Talk: Hock E Aye Vi Edgar Heap of Birds and Shanna Ketchum-Heap of Birds

Part of Jimmie Durham: At the Center of the World

The first lecture focuses on experiences shared between artists Jimmie Durham and Hock E Aye Vi Edgar Heap of Birds, including joint exhibitions and public art projects that became provocative contributions to the world of contemporary art in the 1980s and 1990s. Next, Shanna Ketchum-Heap of Birds examines Durham’s impact on global indigenous discourse through his numerous critical writings and oratory as well as his written collaborations with the late writer, curator, and editor Jean Fisher.

About the Speakers

Hock E Aye Vi Edgar Heap of Birds has exhibited his works at a number of venues including the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the National Museum of the American Indian, and many others. Since 1988, Heap of Birds has taught Native American Studies at the University of Oklahoma. His seminars explore issues of the contemporary artist on local, national and international levels.
Shanna Ketchum-Heap of Birds is a citizen of the Diné/Navajo Nation and a PhD candidate at Middlesex University London in the School of Art and Design. Since 2007, she has been an instructor in the Native American Studies department at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, where she is affiliate faculty in the Women and Gender Studies program and the Center for Social Justice. Ketchum-Heap of Birds has lectured and written widely on contemporary issues in Native American art.