UC Davis exhibition features work of Brenda Mallory, citizen of Cherokee Nation

LOCAL EXHIBIT

Gorman Museum of Native American Art features solo exhibition ’In the Absence of Instruction’

An exhibition featuring the work of Brenda Mallory, a citizen of Cherokee Nation, is currently on view at The Gorman Museum of Native American Art at UC Davis. ‘Brenda Mallory: In the Absence of Instruction’ is on view through Jan. 26. COURTESY

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By Karen Nikos-Rose

In a new solo exhibition, Brenda Mallory includes prints, multi-media and installation artworks to consider the complex relationships and structures of power and identity.

“Brenda Mallory: In the Absence of Instruction” explores an intersection of themes from the past and present to express new forms of cultural knowledge, despite historical disruption.

The exhibition is at the Gorman Museum of Native American Art, at UC Davis, which started Sept. 18 and runs through Jan. 26, 2025. The Collections Gallery at the museum also features assorted works on rotation from the Gorman collection.

Mallory is a multi-disciplinary artist primarily working in mixed media sculptural works comprising a variety of materials including cloth, fibers, beeswax and found objects.

By creating multiple forms joined with crude hardware implying tenuous connections or repairs, her work addresses ideas of interference in long-established systems of nature and human cultures.

Mallory lives in Portland, Oregon, but grew up in Oklahoma and is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation. She holds a B.A. in Linguistics & English from UCLA and a B.F.A. from Pacific Northwest College of Art.

She is a recipient of the The Hallie Ford Fellowship, the Eiteljorg Contemporary Native Art Fellowship, the Native Arts and Culture Foundation Fellowship in Visual Art and the Ucross Native Fellowship.

Lived experience deeply informs her practice, as do the histories of survival inherent to Indigenous peoples.

A catalog of the exhibition will be available at the Gorman for $14.95.

Also on view, The Collections Gallery features a selection of artworks from the Gorman Museum collections on a rotational basis. The current exhibition is a survey spanning across the collection.

Just added in fall 2024 is a selection of Diné (Navajo) tapestries that will be on display for a limited time. Featured works in this area of the exhibition are by:

D.Y. Begay

Ursula Begay

Mary Ann King

Mary Lee

Bessie Littleben

Rena Mountain

Cindy Nez

Rosita Segaye

Louise Sheppard

Shirley Tsinnie

The Gorman Museum is one of the few university museums in the country, and the only one in California, with a mission and focus of contemporary Native American and Indigenous Art Museum situated within a university.

Join the Gorman Museum of Native American Art, UC Davis, for a gallery talk with Brenda Mallory. The artist will discuss her portfolio of works and several of the pieces included in the solo exhibition. The talk is from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 12.

All are welcome, and a reception will follow. Parking and admission is free. UC Davis is committed to equal access — anyone needing to request an accommodation should call (530) 752-6567.