A Virtual Reception with Dan Mills, Donna Ferrato & Jana Harper

A virtual reception for Dan Mills: Human Topographies, Donna Ferrato–Holy and Jana Harper–Moving with the Land, Listening to the Ancestors will take place via Zoom from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Sept. 10, featuring the exhibiting artists. The exhibitions run from Sept. 2 through Oct. 17, 2020.

Human Topographies presents artist Dan Mills’ wide-ranging and decades-old interest in history, exploration, games and wordplay in order to investigate national and global networks of power, commerce, and migration that underpin societies. Mills creates luminous, layered paintings and collages about our shared human history using maps and data to expose the legacies of imperialism: war, colonialism, mass incarceration, and the forced displacement of indigenous peoples.

Drawing from the internationally-known activist-photographer’s upcoming book of the same title, Donna Ferrato–Holy is the culmination of her 50-year ‘road trip’ across the U.S. and beyond. Holyfollows Ferrato’s journey from the sexual revolution of the ’60s through the #metoo era of today. This work, as noted by Ferrato, “is built on the strength of that other holy trinity—the mother, the daughter, and the others who believe in women.”

With her Native American heritage as an entry point and a focus on the Mackinac Band of Chippewa and Ottawa Indians’ 20-year petition for federal recognition, Jana Harper explores her place in the competing narrative between indigenous and colonial histories. Moving with the Land, Listening to the Ancestors includes the Tennessee-based artist’s archival and personal research, her interviews with tribal elders, as well as her search for reconnection with the land of her ancestors.

Image credit: Dan Mills, “Wars and Conflicts by Country, with Ancient Symbols (detail),” 2015. Ink and graphite on printed map on paper, 22 1/2 x 30 in. Private collection, Maine. Courtesy of the artist.