Christine Babic: When She Dies, You Too Will Die
Center on Contemporary Art (CoCA)
Dec. 1, 2016, 12:00 am
“When She Dies, You Too Will Die” is Christine Babic’s first solo show in Seattle. After receiving the CoCA “Un-Contained” residency Christine felt an overwhelming responsibility to drive 17 hours to Cannonball, North Dakota, and protest in solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. As a member of the Chugach-Sugpiaq Tribe, Christine grew up in the midst of the Exxon Valdez disaster where she bore witness to the rampant destruction of Native Lands and resources. “When She Dies, You Too Will Die,” is a love letter inspired by the devastating and unspoken history of colonization written to every victim of “The American Genocide of the Native” long dead, and a call to arms for those generations of survivors beaten and exhausted. “When She Dies, You Too Will Die”, silently and poignantly screams out that we will not be displaced again, we will not be assimilated, our culture will not be drowned your pools of oil and blood.
“Some day the earth will weep, she will beg for her life, she will cry with tears of blood. You will make a choice if you will help her or let her die, and when she dies you too will die.”
John Hollow Horn
Oglala Sioux
Learn more about Babic’s CoCA Lab artist residency:
http://www.cocaseattle.org/exhibitions/current/coca-lab-christine-babic/
Artist Bio:
Christine Babic was born in Cordova, Alaska and is a member of the Chugach Suqpiaq tribe. Growing up she participated in a variety of traditional practices focusing on skin sewing and dance; leading her to attend Pacific Northwest College of Art where she focused on creating her own vocabulary and methodology surrounding Contemporary Indigenous Art. Most recently, Christine travelled from Seattle to Cannonball, North Dakota on the Standing Rock Reservation to protest the Dakota Access Pipeline in solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux tribe.
Title: When She Dies, You Too Will Die
Location: CoCA Gallery 114 3rd Ave South, Seattle WA 98104
Dates: December 1st- 26th
Opening Reception: Thursday, December 1, 2016, 6-9pm
Part of the Pioneer Square Art Walk
Gallery Hours: Thursday-Saturday, 10:30am-4:30pm, or by appointment.
Contact [email protected] for more information