Through the Repellent Fence

September 2019

In this essay I argue that Sam Wainwright Douglas's 2017 film “blends meaningful art historical inquiry with cutting social practice and critique to produce both a land art work and a film work that reflect a radical indigenous politics." I touch on place specificity and ephemerality. I highlight how crucial it is to maintain a critical distance when talking about canonized land art, how Repellent Fence deliberately brings disparate groups together, and how important it is that the histories of land be told by the people indigenous to that land.

Written for Johanna Gosse's Contemporary Art.

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