Born in Standing Rock Reservation, ND, 1979
Lives and works in Albuquerque, NM
Cannupa Hanska Luger is a New Mexico based multidisciplinary artist who uses social collaboration in response to timely and site-specific issues. Raised on the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota, he is of Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara, Lakota and European descent. Luger produces multipronged projects that take many forms—through monumental installations that incorporate ceramics, video, sound, fiber, steel, and repurposed materials, Luger interweaves performance and political action to communicate stories about 21st Century Indigeneity. This work provokes diverse audiences to engage with Indigenous peoples and values apart from the lens of colonial social structuring and often presents a call to action to protect the land from capitalist exploits. He combines critical cultural analysis with dedication and respect for the diverse materials, environments, and communities he engages in. His work has been exhibited internationally in such places as the Gardiner Museum, Washington Project for the Arts, Art Mûr, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, among others. He lectures and participates in residencies and large-scale projects around the globe and his works are in many public collections. Luger holds a BFA from the Institute of American Indian Arts, was a 2019 Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters & Sculptors Grants Recipient and the recipient of the Museum of Arts and Design’s 2018 inaugural Burke Prize.