To Move Across the Land / Iaohontso’ktá:tie

To Move Across the Land / Iaohontso’ktá:tie

Contemporary Native Art Biennial

This edition of the Contemporary Native Art Biennial centres on the concept of transition, liminal spaces, and living in a fluid space between experiences, identities, and even contradictory realities. It also reflects the unique experience of dealing with multiple cultures, languages, and identities.

Borders encompass complex and diverse limits between geographical, political, and cultural entities. They don’t just represent physical demarcations on maps but also symbolize the boundaries, divisions, and connections between different territories, nations, and communities. Furthermore, borders can shape identities, influence the movement of individuals and goods, as well as have significant political and economic consequences. Traditionally, Indigenous communities have lived in territories that extend well beyond the borders of modern nation states and have always crossed them for cultural and economic reasons. The enforcement of international borders by colonial powers has disturbed these communities’ traditional patterns of using the land, making it difficult to access ancestral lands, visit loved ones, and engage in cultural and religious practices that transcend such artificial divisions. This edition centres on the concept of transition, liminal spaces, and living in a fluid space between experiences, identities, and even contradictory realities. It also reflects the unique experience of dealing with multiple cultures, languages, and identities.