PRESS: In John Joe’s practice, he explores and documents objects. John Joe sees them as physical spaces that hold information and imagination. He interested in disrupting this intersection and inserting a new “Image.” The “Image” is open to contemporary data and information. The “Image’s” power is an expansive space. The repositioned space embodies new imagination, narratives, and indigenous storytelling. The “Image” exists as a form of “Indigenous Space” inserted into colonial containers. Visual territory offering an alternative narrative for the viewer to consider.
BIO: John Joe is an artist based in Phoenix, AZ. John was born in Thornton, Colorado. He earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts (2003) from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois, and an Associate of Fine Arts (1995) from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. His practice engages indigenous trauma, memoir, history, and culture by inserting personal cartography and indigenous mapping methods as an act of survivance and reclaiming space. His work aims to activate Indigenous perspectives and dialogue about connecting to the Land and Place using digital technology, audio mapping, and locative media.
Exhibition: Saturday, October 17, 2020 – Sunday, November 15, 2020
Opening day: Saturday October 17 from noon to 9:00 p.m.
Regular gallery hours: Monday through Saturday, 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Location: FOUND:RE Contemporary’s gallery off of Portland Street, 1100 N. Central Ave., Phoenix, 85004