TRY A LITTLE TENDERNESS

Gibson is a queer Indigenous artist who combines technicolor patterning, music lyrics, protest slogans, and literary references to insist on the contemporaneity of Indigenous culture. This work comes from his series of “whimsies,” referring to the Tuscarora raised beadwork that Native artists made for the tourist market at Niagara Falls in the Victorian era. Often dismissed as not Indigenous enough, these souvenirs bear sentimental phrases such as “From Niagara Falls” and “Forget me not.”

Gibson has reimagined the handheld “whimsies” as monumental works. The phrase in the center, “Try a little tenderness,” comes from a song recorded in 1932 and covered by Soul artist Otis Redding in 1966. The beaded text at the bottom, “Born to be alive,” is the title of a 1979 Disco song by French singer Patrick Hernandez. Along with faces, snakes, and thunderbolts, a pinback button declares “Dirty air kills,” invoking environmental activism and the occupation of Indigenous territories. As we come to terms with this history and the challenges of environmental degradation, Gibson reminds us that Indigenous Peoples have always been at the vanguard of movements to protect Earth.