JAVA Feb 2020

installation downstairs and activates them as part
of her opening-night performance. These objects on
display are defined by this potential activation by
Hupfield. It should be recognized that performance
is an in-the-moment experience and impossible to
capture with documentation. Nevertheless, I begin
to realize the key absence in the show is of Hupfield
herself, and just how different these objects on
display are without her there to activate them.
Without Hupfield, much is missing from view.
This sense of the maker’s absence expands the scope
of my thinking to include the rest of the museum. In
another part of the building, the museum’s collection
of kachina dolls is on display. Despite having little or
no accompanying text, the undeniable uniqueness of
each doll communicates the presence of individuality;
I can easily imagine a child for each doll. I cannot
say the same for the David Hockney’s Yosemite and
Masters of California Basketry. Hockney alone is the
active agent in this exhibition; I can’t sense the same
for the Indigenous basket weavers.
Hupfield’s exhibition raises questions about
authorship and anonymity, activating presence or
performative absence – both within and without the
institution. This is a question with political stakes for
Indigenous artists, especially when it is noted that
what Indigenous history has not been erased now
largely remains with collecting institutions. Artists
like Hupfield are uniquely positioned to expand our
ideas of continuity and institutional historicism.
Thank you, Maria Hupfield, for helping me arrive at
these questions.
Maria Hupfield: Nine Years Towards the Sun
December 6, 2019 – May 3, 2020
Heard Museum
2301 N. Central Ave., Phoenix
heard.org
Vestige Vagabond (performed with Charlene Vickers), 2012. Synthetic hair, Sony
Walkman, sports jersey tank tops, cassette tape, six rattles. Collection of the
artist. Image: Justen Waterhouse
Jiimaan, 2015. Industrial felt canoe. Collection of Julia and Robert Foster. Image
courtesy of the artist.
Trophy Case, 2015–ongoing. Image: Justen Waterhouse.
Ahn Ahn Ahn Kaa Kaa Kaa, 2013–2017. Untreated lumber structure with acrylic
paint, industrial grey felt balaclava with tin jingles, single-channel video with
sound. 9 minutes, 41 seconds continuous loop. Collection of Malcolm and Robin
Anthony. Image courtesy of Heard Museum.
Still from video of opening night performance, December 6, 2019. Image
courtesy of Heard Museum.
JAVA 17
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