On View In Meatpacking: Heap of Birds

Hock E Aye Vi Edgar Heap of Birds has worked as a multidisciplinary artist, activist, and teacher based in Oklahoma City. Edgar Heap of Birds returns to the Meatpacking District this year at Fort Gansevoort with Standing Rock Awakens The World. 

The inaugural exhibition with the gallery asserts Native American sovereignty, underscoring the relationship between the body, land, and ownership. The monoprint and ghost print installation reiterates the presence of Indigenous people in this hemisphere, while further stressing the dangers of environmental destruction. A response to the 2016 Dakota Access Pipeline protests, this piece celebrates the unity of Native tribes who have come together in protest to honor the earth and water, while fighting back against the powers who threaten to destroy natural resources. 

Statements such as “WATER IS OUR FIRST MEDICINE” and “ARMED TROOPS SECURITY POLICE ATTACK DOGS” filter the complexity of protest into a few deliberate words, highlighting water as a vital life source while emphasizing police violence towards Indigenous people. Through his remarks on civil rights, violence, and the relationship between indigeneity and the earth, Hock E Aye Vi Edgar Heap of Birds expands the conversation into a larger question of humanity, challenging the notion of sovereignty itself.

Standing Rock Awakens The World is on view Fort Gansevoort (5 9th Ave) from January 11 – February 22, 2020.