Raven Chacon: Three Songs brings together three of Raven Chacon’s projects that pay tribute to Indigenous women through sound, video, and visual work. In the series For Zitkála-Šá (2018), Chacon created musical arrangements dedicated to different contemporary Indigenous, First Nation, or Mestiza women working in music performance, composition, or sound art. The video installation Three Songs (2021) features Indigenous women singing as they reoccupy sites of historic massacres, displacement, or relocation of tribal people. The final work, Silent Choir (2016-2017), is a field recording Chacon made while taking part in the Dakota Access Pipeline protests, which captures the silent protest of 600 water protectors facing police and security forces. These works presented in unison resound suppressed histories and present-day stories of Native resistance in the face of systemic power.
Raven Chacon is a Diné (Navajo) composer, performer, and installation artist born in Fort Defiance, Navajo Nation and based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. As a solo artist, Chacon has exhibited, performed, or had works performed at LACMA, The Kennedy Center, and the Whitney Museum, among others. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Music in 2022 and the prestigious MacArthur Genius Fellowship in 2023.
For Zitkála-Šá performances:
April 6: Autumn Chacon
May 4: Laura Ortman
June 7: Marisa DeMarco
Raven Chacon: Three Songs is made possible by the generous support of Montaner Charitable Trust, UNM Academic Technologies, Lina and Jim Beckley in honor of Gus Foster and Alexandra Benjamin, Gus Foster, Dianne Frost, Sheree Livney and Steve Hanks, Laura Medley, Janet Holmberg and Shawn Berman, Dora and Carl Dillistone, Richard B. Siegel Foundation, and Liz Neely. Additional support provided by Larry Bell Fund for Excellence in Contemporary Art and Tally Richards Fund for Exhibitions.
Raven Chacon Gallery Guide in English
Raven Chacon Gallery Guide in Spanish
Raven Chacon, Three Songs, 2021. Sung by Sage Bond (Diné), Jehnean Washington (Yuchi), and Mary Ann Emarthle (Seminole). Courtesy of Raven Chacon.
Raven Chacon, Three Songs, 2021. Sung by Sage Bond (Diné), Jehnean Washington (Yuchi), and Mary Ann Emarthle (Seminole). Courtesy of Raven Chacon.
Raven Chacon, For Carmina Escobar (For Zitkála-Šá), 2017–2020. Credit: Raven Chacon and Crow’s Shadow Institute of the Arts.
Raven Chacon, Silent Choir (Standing Rock), 2017-2022. Courtesy of Raven Chacon.
