Who are they and Why are they dressed as a clown?
Anangookwe (born 1996) is an enrolled member of the Lac Courte Oreilles band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Fort Peck Assiniboine, and Dakota descent. They utilize forms of craft and storytelling to interweave familial narratives concerning cultural inheritance and present-day afflictions. Their focus is to create a visual story of the interpersonal lives of those they’ve known and have never met.
In 2019, Anangookwe obtained their BFA focusing on Jewelry Design from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Since graduating, Anangookwe’s visual work has been exhibited across the United States in galleries such as All My Relations Gallery (Minneapolis, Minnesota); The New Gallery (Clarksville, Tennessee); and Form & Concept (Santa Fe, New Mexico). Anangookwe is the recipient of residencies, grants, and awards through Vermont Studio Center, First Peoples Fund, and Alaska State Council on the Arts. In 2023, they received an honorable mention for the James Welch Poetry Prize and were a 2019 SITE Santa Fe Scholar. Anangookwe is a 2024 Indigenous Nations Poet fellow and currently resides in Lenapehoking.