Abstract brushstrokes in shades of pale blue, light grey, and white are collaged with pages from a Christian hymn book, a black-and-white photograph of two people skinning a sheep, and a black-and-white photograph of a sheep’s head laying on the ground. In the lower right corner a paved road is painted curving out of the frame. In the upper right corner is the silhouette of a black house.
John Feodorov, Assimilation #3, 2020. Acrylic, latex, ink, collage, graphite, and wax crayon on wood panel, 48 x 42 inches.
Assimilations: A conversation with John Feodorov, Ruba Katrib, and Asia Tail
Saturday, March 27, 4pm ET
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Please join us for a conversation between artist John Feodorov, curator-mentor Ruba Katrib, and Art Critic Mentoring Program writer Asia Tail in conjunction with Feodorov’s solo exhibition, Assimilations. Drawing upon his experience growing up half-Navajo (Diné) and half-white in the suburbs of Los Angeles, Feodorov’s 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. A presentation of Feodorov’s work will be followed by a conversation between Feodorov, Katrib, and Tail, with time for audience questions at the end.
The event will be live-captioned as well as recorded, captioned, and posted to our website after the event. If you have additional access questions or needs, please contact info@cueartfoundation.org (ideally with at least 48 hours before the event) and we will do our best to accommodate you.
Of mixed Navajo (Diné) and Euro-American heritage, John Feodorov grew up in the suburbs of Southern California in the city of Whittier. As a child, his family made annual visits to his grandparents’ land on the Navajo Reservation. His time spent there continues to inform his art. Feodorov both engages and confronts the viewer through questioning assumptions about identity, spirituality, and place within the context of consumer-driven culture. Recently, his work has focused on the exploitation and degradation of Indigenous lands by governments and corporations, and its potential impact on identity, connection, and sense of place.
Feodorov has been featured in several publications, including Time and Time Again by Lucy R. Lippard; Art + Religion, edited by Aaron Rosen; and Manifestations, edited by Dr. Nancy Marie Mithlo. He was also featured in the first season of the series Art 21: Art for the 21st Century. He is co-founder of Animal Saint, an interdisciplinary art collaboration with composer and musician Paul Amiel. Feodorov served as an Arts Commissioner for the City of Seattle from 2000-03 and holds the position of Associate Professor of Art at Fairhaven College of Interdisciplinary Studies at Western Washington University in Washington State.
Ruba Katrib is Curator at MoMA PS1 in New York, where she has curated exhibitions such as Theater of Operations: The Gulf Wars 1991-2011 (co-organized with Peter Eleey); the retrospective of Simone Fattal in 2019; and the solo shows of Edgar Heap of Birds, Karrabing Collective, Fernando Palma Rodríguez, and Julia Phillips. From 2012–2018 she was Curator at SculptureCenter in New York, where she curated over twenty exhibitions including 74 million million million tons (co-organized with artist Lawrence Abu Hamdan) and solo shows with artists including Carissa Rodriguez, Kelly Akashi, Teresa Burga, Nicola L., Charlotte Prodger, Aki Sasamoto, Cosima von Bonin, Anthea Hamilton, Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook, Gabriel Sierra, Erika Verzutti, and Jumana Manna. In 2018, Katrib co-curated SITE Santa Fe’s biennial, Casa Tomada, with José Luis Blondet and Candice Hopkins.
Asia Tail is an artist, curator, and organizer based in Seattle, Washington. She is a co-founder of yəhaw̓, an Indigenous artist collective, and works as a creative consultant with various organizations locally and nationally. Asia is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, and a proud member of the diverse urban Native community in the Pacific Northwest.