Cannupa Hanska Luger: Sovereign 

Production | Exhibition Grant

Cannupa Hanska Luger’s Sovereign is a sculptural, video, and audio installation that considers the future of human life on earth. Developed for the lobby and stairwell space of LA’s Hammer Museum, the work is a key commission for the exhibition Breath(e): Toward Climate and Social Justice, which is mounted in conjunction with the citywide initiative PST ART, an initiative of Getty with arts institutions across Southern California. The show considers environmental art practices addressing climate crisis and anthropogenic disasters with the goal of generating solutions.

Luger’s installation Sovereign features three large scale Indigenous figures traversing the space time continuum, immersed in a futuristic realm in which civilization as we know it has collapsed and humans have developed methods of caring for and carrying knowledge and culture with them for survival. The work suggests that these humans have innovated ways to adapt to life in their new environment by activating Indigenous technologies and perspectives. A tipi made of hi-visibility reflective material mounted to the wall becomes a vessel for traversing space. Sovereign directly references the sci-fi tropes that arose in popular culture during the 1950s space race, when narratives around space exploration mirrored colonial-era language of conquest and colonization, and alien invasion plots perpetuated the idea of the hostile “other”. Cognizant of the work’s siting in Los Angeles, Luger leans into the Hollywood narratives while redirecting them. Rather than escaping to other planets in the face of climate crisis on Earth, Sovereign envisions a future where humans have adapted, survived, and thrived.