Jeffrey Gibson’s She Never Dances Alone celebrates Indigenous women, presenting a performance by Sarah Ortegon, a jingle dress dancer who carries forward the dance’s call for ancestral healing and protection. Jingle dress originated with the Anishinaabe (Ojibwea) people during the 1918 influenza pandemic and is traditionally performed by women. The rhythmic, kaleidoscopic visual impact of the video mirrors and replicates Ortegon’s form. This shimmering mass of movement visually dazzles, but also underscores how Indigenous women today take action to protect their communities, rallying for accountability in the movement for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two Spirit across the United States, Canada, and the world. Spend time with #MMIW, #MMIWG2S, #NoMoreStolenSisters for more information about this necessary call to accountability and action.
See She Never Dances Alone in full, as well as Gibson’s first video I Was Here, as part of our Art on the Stoop: Sunset Screenings series, showing each Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday through November 8, starting at 6pm. You can also see more of the artist's work in Jeffrey Gibson: When Fire Is Applied to a Stone It Cracks, on view inside the Museum through January 10.
Jeffrey Gibson (Choctaw/Cherokee, born 1972). She Never Dances Alone, 2020 [Excerpt]. Single-channel video (color, sound, featuring Sarah Ortegon): 3 min. Courtesy of the artist and Sikkema Jenkins & Co., New York. Originally presented by Times Square Arts, March 1 - July 31 2020. Music: “Sisters” by A Tribe Called Red.