Cannupa Hanska Luger’s REFLECT
Wed, Nov 4 · 1:00 PM Flagg Building · Foggy Bottom
REFLECT traces the evolution of artist Cannuap Hanska Luger’s Mirror Shield Project. In 2016, when the Dakota Access Pipeline threatened the waters of his ancestral homelands, Luger circulated a video demonstrating how to make “mirror shields” from inexpensive materials. Conceived during the Indigenous-led resistance at Standing Rock, North Dakota, the tutorial functioned as a call to collective action, an invitation for people across the country to stand in solidarity with the Water Protectors. Carried by Water Protectors in frontline actions and collective formations, the mirrored surfaces offered protection while redirecting the field of vision. More than a thousand mirror shields were created and transported to the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ camp. The exhibition brings the project’s history into the present, treating the archive as a resource to be carried forward and put into practice. Photographs, videos, garments, ephemera, and community-generated documentation reveal a collective artwork shaped by those who made, carried, adapted, interpreted, and activated it.
