James Luna (February 9, 1950March 4, 2018
) was a
Payómkawichum,
Ipi, and
Mexican-American performance artist, photographer and multimedia
installation artist
Installation art is an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called ...
. His work is best known for challenging the ways in which conventional museum exhibitions depict
Native Americans.
With recurring themes of
multiculturalism
The term multiculturalism has a range of meanings within the contexts of sociology, political philosophy, and colloquial use. In sociology and in everyday usage, it is a synonym for " ethnic pluralism", with the two terms often used interchang ...
,
alcoholism
Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomi ...
, and
colonialism
Colonialism is a practice or policy of control by one people or power over other people or areas, often by establishing colonies and generally with the aim of economic dominance. In the process of colonisation, colonisers may impose their reli ...
, his work was often comedic and theatrical in nature.
In 2017 he was awarded a
Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the art ...
.
Background
Luna was born in 1950 in
Orange, California
Orange is a city located in North Orange County, California. It is approximately north of the county seat, Santa Ana. Orange is unusual in this region because many of the homes in its Old Town District were built before 1920. While many oth ...
. He moved to the
La Jolla Indian Reservation in
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
in 1975. In 1976, he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at the
University of California, Irvine
The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a public land-grant research university in Irvine, California. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, UCI offers 87 undergraduate degrees and 129 graduate and p ...
, and in 1983, he earned a Master of Science degree in counseling at
San Diego State University.
In 2011, he received an
honorary doctoral degree from the
Institute of American Indian Arts.
Luna was an active community member of the
La Jolla Indian reservation. He served as the director of the tribe's education center in 1987, and the community was often a focal point of his photography and writing.
He taught art at the
University of California, San Diego
The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego is ...
and spent 25 years as a full-time academic counselor at
Palomar College in
San Marcos, California.
[Biography and Bibliography.](_blank)
''James Luna.'' (retrieved 21 April 2009)
Artwork
A self-proclaimed "American Indian Ceremonial Clown", "Culture Warrior," and "Tribal Citizen",
Luna's artwork was known for challenging racial categories and exposing outmoded, Eurocentric ways in which museums have displayed Native American Indians as parts of
natural history, rather than as living members of contemporary society.
While Luna began his art career as a painter, he soon branched out into performance and installation art, which he did for over three decades.
He used objects, references to American popular culture, and his own body in his work.
He performed over 58 solo exhibitions starting in 1981 and partook in group exhibitions and projects across the United States and the world. His artistry was often referred to as both disruptive
and radical for its stark confrontations with
colonialism
Colonialism is a practice or policy of control by one people or power over other people or areas, often by establishing colonies and generally with the aim of economic dominance. In the process of colonisation, colonisers may impose their reli ...
,
violence
Violence is the use of physical force so as to injure, abuse, damage, or destroy. Other definitions are also used, such as the World Health Organization's definition of violence as "the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened ...
,
sexuality, and
identity
Identity may refer to:
* Identity document
* Identity (philosophy)
* Identity (social science)
* Identity (mathematics)
Arts and entertainment Film and television
* ''Identity'' (1987 film), an Iranian film
* ''Identity'' (2003 film), an ...
. Some of his best known pieces are:
''The Artifact Piece'' (1987/1990)
In ''The Artifact Piece'' (1987) at the
San Diego Museum of Man
The Museum of Us (formerly known as the San Diego Museum of Man) is a museum of anthropology located in Balboa Park, San Diego, California and housed in the historic landmark buildings of the California Quadrangle.
History
The museum traces ...
, Luna lay naked except for a
loincloth and still in a display case filled with sand and artifacts, such as Luna's favorite music and books, as well as legal papers and labels describing his scars.
The work looked like a museum exhibit and was set in a hall dedicated to traditional ethnographic displays. The marks and scars on his body were acquired while drinking, fighting, or in accidents. Critics praised Luna's ability to challenge conventional understandings and displays of the Native American identities and presumptions about his own personhood by putting his own body on display.
He performed "The Artifact Piece" in 1990 at ''The Decade Show'' in New York City.
''Take a Picture With a Real Indian'' (1991–93)
In the early 1990s, Luna stood outside of Washington DC's
Union Station and performed ''Take a Picture With a Real Indian''. Luna describes the performance by saying:
Standing at a podium wearing an outfit, I announce: “Take a picture with a real Indian. Take a picture here, in Washington, D.C. on this beautiful Monday morning, on this holiday called Columbus Day. America loves to say ‘her Indians.’ America loves to see us dance for them. America likes our arts and crafts. America likes to name cars and trucks after our tribes. Take a picture with a real Indian. Take a picture here today, on this sunny day here in Washington, D.C.” And then I just stand there. Eventually, one person will pose with me. After that they just start lining up. I’ll do that for a while until I get mad enough or humiliated enough.
In utilizing and engaging a public audience, Luna taps into common cultural commodification of Native American culture. Such a trend manifests in the idea of the "McIndian"; the idea that Native culture is something that can be massed produced, consumed, and enjoyed without acknowledging the deep history of oppression Native Americans have endured.
''In My Dreams: A Surreal, Post-Indian, Subterranean Blues Experience'' (1996)
In this performance, Luna is acclaimed for having challenged the trope that Native Americans are "peoples of memory" in ways that white culture may envy as being more purely spiritual.
In one scene, he performs a "traditional" dance with crutches to reveal how white demand for Native performance is both limiting and inauthentic. In another, he puts his diabetes on display, giving himself insulin on stage which is said by critics to be emblematic of the binary of the "wild" but "controlled" Native American.
His final scene in this performance is a tribute to
Dean Martin
Dean Martin (born Dino Paul Crocetti; June 7, 1917 – December 25, 1995) was an American singer, actor and comedian. One of the most popular and enduring American entertainers of the mid-20th century, Martin was nicknamed "The King of Cool". M ...
, which serves to reverse white tributes to Native peoples back on to his white audiences. By having a Native American Indian idolize a white person in a way that is relatively fanatic, Luna revealed the problematic manner in which white people can idolize Native American figures.
''Emendatio'' (2005)
In 2005 the
National Museum of the American Indian sponsored him to participate in the
Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...
.
The piece he created, ''Emendatio'', included three installations, ''Spinning Woman'', ''Apparitions: Past and Present'', and ''The Chapel for Pablo Tac'', as well a personal performance in Venice, ''Renewal'' dedicated to
Pablo Tac (1822–1841), a Luiseño Indian author and scholar, who went to study in Rome, where he died.
Utilizing cultural aspects of both the Lusieno people and his own family, Luna's installations and performance expose the affects that the poor translation of Native identities as well as globalization has had in oppressing narratives of Native American memory while inspiring both "white envy" and "liberal guilt".
Honors and awards
Throughout his career, Luna received many awards. Including:
* 1988:
LACE Fellowship (
Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, California)
* 1998: C.O.M.B.O Grant for Literary Studies (San Diego, California)
* 1991:
Bessie Creator Award (New York Dance Theatre Workshop, New York)
* 1991: Fellowship in Sculpture (
Western States Arts Federation's; Santa Fe, New Mexico)
* 1992: Grant for work in Performance, (
California Arts Council; Sacramento, California)
* 1992: Offsite Installation Grant (
Capp Street Project; San Francisco, California)
* 1992:
Rockefeller Foundation Intercultural Film/Video Fellowship (New York)
* 1993: Best Live Short Subject Award for ''The History of the Luiseno People: La Jolla Reservation Christmas 1990'' (
American Indian Film Festival
The American Indian Film Festival is an annual non-profit film festival in San Francisco, California, United States. It is the world's oldest venue dedicated solely to Native American/First Nations films and prepared the way for the 1979 forma ...
; San Francisco, California)
* 1994: Faculty Residency (
Skowhegan School of Painting; Skowhegan, Maine)
* 1994: Distinguished Visiting Faculty Award (
University of California, Davis
The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The inst ...
)
* 1995:
Native American Public Broadcasting Consortium Video Grant, “Bringing it All Back Home” video project
* 2000:
Andrea Frank Foundation Grant
* 2000:
Arts International Grant
* 2001:
U.S.–Japan Creative Arts’ Program Fellowship,
Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission
* 2001: University of California Regents Lecture (
University of California, San Diego
The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego is ...
)
* 2001: Dorantes Lecturer (
Santa Barbara City College, California)
* 2002:
Creative Capital Award
* 2007:
Eiteljorg Fellowship for Native American Fine Art
* 2011: Honorary PhD from the
Institute of American Indian Arts, in Santa Fe, New Mexico
* 2015:
Native Arts and Cultures Foundation
The Native Arts and Cultures Foundation (NACF) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that supports Native American artists, culture bearers, and Native-led arts organizations, providing them with support through fellowships and project funding. T ...
National Arts Fellowship
* 2017:
Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the art ...
Quotes
"I truly live in two worlds. This 'two world' concept once posed too much ambiguity for me, as I felt torn as to whom I was. In maturity I have come to find it the source of my power, as I can easily move between these two places and not feel that I have to be one or the other, that I am an Indian in this modern society.
"Yes. The people are getting up there to have their picture taken with an Indian, just like they would have their picture taken with the bull statue on Wall Street. It’s there for the taking. Indian people always have been fair game, and I don’t think people quite understand that we’re not game. Just because I’m an identifiable Indian, it doesn’t mean I’m there for the taking.
But in the long run I’m making a statement for me, and through me, about people’s interaction with American Indians, and the selective romanticization of us."
Death
Luna had a fatal
heart attack
A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...
in
, on March 4, 2018, aged 68.
[
]
See also
* List of Native American artists
* List of indigenous artists of the Americas
* Visual arts by indigenous peoples of the Americas
References
External links
The Performance Art of James Luna
official site
James Luna, Emendatio, National Museum of the American Indian
James Luna
Vision Project, by Shanna Ketchum-Heap of Birds
*James Luna
"I've Always Wanted to be an American Indian"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Luna, James
Native American performance artists
Native American installation artists
1950 births
2018 deaths
American artists of Mexican descent
Luiseño people
Native American male artists
21st-century Native Americans
People from Orange, California
University of California, Irvine alumni
San Diego State University alumni
20th-century Native Americans
20th-century American artists
21st-century American artists
University of California, San Diego faculty
20th-century American male artists
Native American photographers