WATER: NFS is the first exhibition in our new large-scale program Site, a series of exhibitions by Oregon artists replacing the Portland Biennial for 2021. In this show, Natalie Ball collaborates with artist Annelia Hillman pue-leek-la' (Yurok) to bring you into their worlds of resistance. They create a space that challenges viewers and highlights Oregon – California’s water wars, drought, and land rights. The two artists are connected by the water source that runs starting at the Head of the Wood River in Ball’s Territory to the Mouth of the Klamath River, Hillman’s Tribal Territory. Their Tribal communities in Oregon and California are affected by severe drought and resulting water issues including toxic algae, a dying Klamath Lake, and dam removal resulting in traditional food extinction. 98% of the juvenile Salmon died this year from parasites caused by poor water quality directly caused by the dams. For over 100 years, Klamath Tribes no longer have Salmon in their waters because the dams block their ancient return home. Natalie Ball will also use the gallery space to show the development of an accompanying Klamath Land Back Tours PSA (www.klamathlandback.com).

I believe historical discourses of Native Americans have constructed a limited and inconsistent visual archive that currently misrepresents our past experiences and misinforms current expectations. I excavate hidden histories and dominant narratives to deconstruct them through a theoretical framework of auto-ethnography. This moves “Indian” outside of governing discourses in order to build a visual genealogy that refuses to line-up with the many constructed existences of Native Americans. The goal is for art to lend itself as new texts, with new histories and new manifestations, to add to the discussion of complex racial narratives that are critical to further realizing the self, the nation, and necessarily, our shared experiences and histories.
-Natalie Ball

WATER:NFS is generously supported by The Ford Family Foundation. Oregon Contemporary is also supported by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the Robert & Mercedes Eichholz Foundation, VIA Art Fund and Wagner Foundation, the Maybelle Clark Macdonald Fund, the James F. & Marion L. Miller Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Oregon Arts Commission, and the Regional Arts & Culture Council. Other businesses and individuals provide additional support.

Venue: Oregon Contemporary
On View: November 5, 2021 – January 2, 2022
Photos by Mario Gallucci