Curator Colloquium: Surviving the Long Wars: Residues and Rebellions

Join Ronak K. Kapadia (University of Illinois Chicago) and Aaron Hughes (emerging Veteran Art Movement), co-organizers/curators of the 2023 Veteran Art Triennial and Summit, Surviving the Long Wars, as they discuss their project's history and curatorial themes, with insights on the featured works in the Residues and Rebellions exhibition at the Newberry, which reflects on the persistence of anti-colonial resistance from the so-called "Indian Wars" of the 18th and 19th centuries to the "Global War on Terror" of the 21st century.

Residues and Rebellions highlights intimate connections across vast differences in time, geography, and medium to propose uncommon alliances that can serve as a foundation for solidarity. Historic works from the Newberry’s Edward E. Ayer Collection are paired with contemporary artworks to reclaim visible yet overlooked strategies of BIPOC survival and resistance. From ledger art to beadwork to portraiture, the featured works use different strategies to record distinct yet overlapping community histories, redirect the colonial gaze, and recycle the technologies of US militarism, opening up alternative ways of knowing, sensing, and living in the long wars.

While the Newberry's policy is that masks are welcome but optional, the organizers of the Veteran Art Summit request that the audience and participants wear masks, unless they are speaking into a microphone.