Cannupa Hanska Luger facts for kids

Cannupa Hanska Luger (born 1979) is a Native American artist. He creates art that combines different types of art, like sculpture and performance. His artworks often talk about important topics. These include issues faced by Native American communities. He also focuses on protecting the environment and stopping violence against women and girls. Luger lives and works in New Mexico.

Cannupa is a member of the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation. He has heritage from the Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara, and Lakota tribes. He also has Austrian and Norwegian family roots.

Early Life and Artistic Beginnings

Cannupa Hanska Luger was born in 1979. He grew up in Fort Yates, North Dakota. This town is located on the Standing Rock Reservation.

His mother, Kathy "Elk Woman" Whitman, is an artist. His father is Robert "Bruz" Luger. After his parents separated, Cannupa moved to Phoenix, Arizona. He lived there with his mother and five brothers and sisters. His mother, a sculptor, wanted to find a good place to sell her stone art.

Cannupa spent his summers on his father's ranch. This ranch was also on the Standing Rock Reservation. He often says that his mother and his ancestors gave him confidence. They helped him believe he could be an artist. They also encouraged him to find his own unique artistic voice.

Education and Learning

In 2011, Luger earned a special degree. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in studio arts. He studied at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Art Exhibitions and Public Projects

Every One, 2018, by Cannupa Hanska Luger

Cannupa Luger creates large art pieces. These include installations, sculptures, and performances. He uses video, sound, and many different materials. His art helps tell stories about Native American life today. It also often involves "political activism." This means his art encourages people to think about and act on important social issues.

His art has been shown in many famous places. These include the Princeton University Art Museum and the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City. He also exhibited at the Gardiner Museum and the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. His work has even been shown in Paris, France.

The Every One Project

One of Luger's most powerful artworks is called Every One. This installation has been shown in several museums. It includes 4,000 handmade ceramic beads. People from Native and other communities across the U.S. and Canada made these beads. Each bead represents a missing or murdered Indigenous woman, girl, or LGBTQ person.

Luger explains that he didn't create this work alone. He says, "It took hundreds of people to make it." This shows how important teamwork and community are to his art.

The Mirror Shield Project

Luger is also well known for his Mirror Shield Project. This project was used during the Dakota Access Pipeline protests in 2016. These protests happened at Standing Rock. Luger designed and made 100 shields. They were simple and inexpensive to create. He used masonite and mirrored-vinyl.

He then shared a video online. This video showed others how to make the shields. A group in Minneapolis made 500 more shields. This project helped protesters protect themselves. It also reflected the power of the people back at those who opposed them.

Other Notable Works

In 2018, Luger organized the Lazy Stitch exhibition. This show was at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. In 2019, he had a solo exhibition called Future Ancestral Technologies: nágshibi. This work explored Indigenous science fiction.

In 2020, his art was part of the Larger than Memory exhibition. This show was at the Heard Museum. Also in 2020, Luger helped direct and design costumes for Sweet Land. This was an opera about colonialism. It won an award for best new opera.

In 2021, Luger had his first solo show in New York. It was called New Myth. He also created Something to Hold Onto. This installation explored personal stories about migration and border issues.

Working with Others

Cannupa Luger often works with other artists and groups. While he was in college, he was part of the Humble Art Collective. Later, he collaborated on projects like Mirror Shields and Every One.

He has also worked with the Winter Count artist collective. He collaborated with Postcommodity, another artist group. Luger also works with R.I.S.E. (Radical Indigenous Survivance and Empowerment). This is a collective of Indigenous activists.

Awards and Special Recognitions

Cannupa Luger has received many awards for his art. In 2015, he got a Multicultural Fellowship Award. In 2018, he won the first Burke Prize. This award is for American studio crafts.

In 2016, he received a National Artist Fellowship. In 2019, he was given a Joan Mitchell Foundation grant. He was also honored by the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. In 2020, he received a Creative Capital Award. He also got a fellowship for socially engaged art. In 2020, he was awarded an Artist Research Fellowship. This was at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. In 2022, he received the Guggenheim fellowship in Fine Arts.

Art in Public Collections

Luger's artwork can be found in several public art collections. These include:

• North America Native Museum, Zürich, Switzerland
• Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO
• IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, Santa Fe, NM
• Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, Norman, OK
• Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT