Jeffrey Gibson: When Fire Is Applied to a Stone It Cracks

'When Fire Is Applied to a Stone It Cracks’, includes selected objects from the Brooklyn Museum’s collection, which are presented alongside Jeffrey Gibson’s recent work. The resulting multimedia, floor-to-ceiling installation questions long-held institutional categorisations and representations of Indigenous peoples and Native American art. It also provides a context for the artist’s work and acts as a contemporary lens through which to see historical works by both Indigenous and non-Native peoples.

Works on view include garments, beaded punching bags, paintings on hide and canvas, and ceramic vessels. Collection objects include moccasins, headdresses, ceramics, rawhide, and examples of beadwork and appliqué. The exhibition also features rarely exhibited materials from  the museum’s Archives and Library Special Collections that shed light on the formation of their Native American collection in the early twentieth century.