Inkpa Mani

What’s in a Name?

June 17, 2024 - September 22, 2024

Starion Gallery

Inkpa Mani is an Indigenous, Mexican/American artist from Minnesota and Chihuahua, Mexico. Throughout his work, he blends modern techniques with traditional Indigenous aesthetics. Based in rural Minnesota, Inkpa Mani creates work that celebrates the beauty of the modern Indigenous world. He focuses on art as a cultural continuum passed down in North America for thousands of years.

In this exhibition, Inkpa Mani reclaims Indigenous names and self-representation through portraits of himself and his community. There is a longstanding tradition of non-Native artists representing Indigenous people and culture in romanticized and stereotyped ways. Inkpa Mani began painting portraits of people in his community, because he saw the need for accurate, everyday representations of Indigenous individuals from an Indigenous artist’s perspective. Each portrait emphasizes the individual’s Indian name to explore the cultural meaning of Indian names and their impact on identity formation. From the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century, hundreds of Indian boarding schools were established to ‘civilize’ Native children, which involved forcibly stripping them of their names, languages, and cultures. Now there is a growing movement to revitalize Indigenous naming practices. In making Native names a focal point of this series of portraits, Inkpa Mani resists this erasure and shows us the power of Indian spirit names.

Artist Talk: Thursday, August 1, 6-7 pm

left to right: Inkpa Mani, Rattling Chains Woman–Sisseton Wahpeton Dakota, Oil, acrylic, and earth pigment on canvas, 36 x 48 in., Courtesy of the artist • Inkpa Mani, Yellow Sunflower Woman, Oil, acrylic, earth pigment on canvas, 36 x48 in., Courtesy of the artist • Inkpa Mani, Shell Face Shield / Lunar Eclipse Women, Archival pigment print acrylic, image transfer and wax pencil on paper, 25 x 30 in., Courtesy of the artist

Ongoing Exhibitions

Convergence: Hope, Love, Resilience, Rest, Community

Ongoing
Convergence: Hope, Love, Resilience, Rest, Community

This installation was created specifically for the atrium at Plains Art Museum as part of the exhibition Convergence: Health & Creativity. Inspired by Labovitz’s research on the psychological benefits of art, this piece celebrates the connection between art and well-being.

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S.P.A.C.E. 2024-2026

Ongoing
S.P.A.C.E. 2024-2026

The S.P.A.C.E. (Sculpture Pad Art Collaborative Experiment) project is a public art initiative led by Plains Art Museum in collaboration with NDSU, MSUM, and Concordia College. Sculptures are displayed for two years.

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No Time For Despair

Ongoing
No Time For Despair

To say that right now is the ideal time to make art that speaks directly to the people about social justice is an understatement. Because the very nature of art is to undertake or assume the role of a healer by shading light on the human condition.

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Bee in Flight

Ongoing
Bee in Flight

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Fragile Preservation

Ongoing
Fragile Preservation
A Tallgrass Community

While the Tallgrass Prairie is a community made up of a great diversity of species, Fragile Preservation represents a selection of them.

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