London Expert Discusses Politics of Native American Art Exhibitions

Adrian Locke is in Laramie today to discuss the intricacies of displaying Native American art.  He will give a talk on “The Politics of Exhibiting Native American Art” today at 4 p.m. in the University of Wyoming American Heritage Center Stock Grower’s Room.

His discussion will center on the complications and consequences of presenting such art; particularly, the process and ramifications of displaying a sizeable exhibition on the culture and art of native America at the Royal Academy of Arts in London.

Dr. Locke joined the Academy in 2001 after obtaining a PhD on art and society in colonial Peru at the University of Essex.  He has collaborated with quite a few artists and guest curators during his 12 years overseeing a great variety of exhibitions at the Royal Academy.

He has delivered exhibitions such as Modern British Sculpture (2011), Anish Kapoor (2009), Kuniyoshi (2009), Chola: Sacred Bronzes of Southern India (2007), Munch by Himself (2005), and Turks: A Journey of a Thousand Years, 600-1600 A.D. (2005).  Locke worked closely with the Philadelphia Museum of Art on Tesoros: The Arts in Latin America, 1492-1820 (2006) and was co-curator of the award-winning Aztecs in 2002.

Most recently, Locke curated Mexico: A Revolution in Art, 1910-1940 (2013), and co-curated Radical Geometry: Modern Art of South America from the Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Collection (2014).  He is currently co-curator of Ai Weiwei’s Tree in the Royal Academy’s Annenberg Courtyard.

Locke’s trip to UW is sponsored by the American Indian Studies Program, the Latina/o Studies Program, International Programs, and the UW Art Museum.  More information is available through American Indian Studies at 766-6666.