Nicholas Galanin is a multi-disciplinary artist. Galanin’s work engages contemporary culture from his perspective rooted in connection to land.
2023 Biennial Year Find out more
He embeds incisive observation into his work, investigating intersections of culture and concept in form, image and sound. Galanin’s works embody critical thought as vessels of knowledge, culture and technology – inherently political, generous, unflinching, and poetic. Galanin engages past, present and future to expose intentionally obscured collective memory and barriers to the acquisition of knowledge. His works critique commodification of culture, while contributing to the continuum of Tlingit art. Galanin employs materials and processes that expand dialogue on Indigenous artistic production, and how culture can be carried.
His work is in numerous public and private collections and exhibited worldwide. Galanin apprenticed with master carvers, earned his BFA at London Guildhall University, and his MFA at Massey University, he lives and works with his family in Sitka, Alaska.
Liverpool Biennial 2023
‘Threat Return’ (2023)
At St John’s Gardens, adjacent to St George’s Hall, Nicholas Galanin presents ‘Threat Return’ (2023): a gathering of overturned, handwoven baskets cast in bronze, modified to resemble burglary masks.
The seven bronze sculptures sit upon concrete plinths, referencing busts and monuments which surround the piece in St John’s Gardens and within the nearby galleries and museums, many of which celebrate men and families who made their wealth in shipping and merchant trade. Galanin references museum displays of Indigenous North American and African basketry and cinematic portrayals of thieves via ski-mask cut-outs incised into each basket, contemplating the commodification, reproduction, theft, and imitation of indigenous cultural traditions.
The work is a reflection on what is considered to be theft, a meditation on the
At St John’s Gardens, adjacent to St George’s Hall, Nicholas Galanin presents ‘Threat Return’ (2023): a gathering of overturned, handwoven baskets cast in bronze, modified to resemble burglary masks. The seven bronze sculptures sit upon concrete plinths, referencing busts and monuments which surround the piece in St John’s Gardens and within the nearby galleries and museums, many of which celebrate men and families who made their wealth in shipping and merchant trade. Galanin references museum displays of Indigenous North American and African basketry and cinematic portrayals of thieves via ski-mask cut-outs incised into each basket, contemplating the commodification, reproduction, theft, and imitation of indigenous cultural traditions. The work is a reflection on what is considered to be theft, a meditation on the reflexivity of threat, and the return of energy as well as cultural property. Galanin insists on the persistence of Indigenous connection to land and culture which is embedded in bodies, memories, traditions, objects and languages. Commissioned by Liverpool Biennial, with support from Liverpool BID Company and Peter Blum Gallery.
‘Threat Return’ (2023)
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Nicholas Galanin, Threat Return, 2023. Installation view at St Johns Gardens, Liverpool Biennial 2023. Photography by Rob Battersby. Courtesy Liverpool Biennial.
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Nicholas Galanin, Threat Return, 2023. Installation view at St Johns Gardens, Liverpool Biennial 2023. Photography by Rob Battersby. Courtesy Liverpool Biennial.
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Nicholas Galanin, Threat Return, 2023. Installation view at St Johns Gardens, Liverpool Biennial 2023. Photography by Rob Battersby. Courtesy Liverpool Biennial.
Liverpool Biennial 2023
'kʼidéin yéi jeené (you’re doing such a good job)' (2021)
‘kʼidéin yéi jeené’ (‘you’re doing such a good job’) samples words from the Lingít language, which is spoken by the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. They are words and phrases of love and care spoken to an Indigenous child, in an Indigenous home; centring the love, safety, connection experienced and shared within these communities.
The work criticises and rejects the false historical narratives and generational trauma inflicted by settler-colonialism – the ongoing system of oppression based on genocide that continues to displace and eliminate Indigenous people and cultures, confining them to a marginal existence.
Instead, it centres and celebrates these families and communities, reflecting the light of Indigenous children against the shadows of punishment for practicing their
‘kʼidéin yéi jeené’ (‘you’re doing such a good job’) samples words from the Lingít language, which is spoken by the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. They are words and phrases of love and care spoken to an Indigenous child, in an Indigenous home; centring the love, safety, connection experienced and shared within these communities. The work criticises and rejects the false historical narratives and generational trauma inflicted by settler-colonialism – the ongoing system of oppression based on genocide that continues to displace and eliminate Indigenous people and cultures, confining them to a marginal existence. Instead, it centres and celebrates these families and communities, reflecting the light of Indigenous children against the shadows of punishment for practicing their cultures, ceremonies and languages; against the shadows of laws created and used to divide them and take their children. As the artist explains: “Our families continue to love and care for our children’s needs, despite generations of violent state-mandated denial of those needs, despite the effects of generational trauma on our families and communities, despite the continued refusal outside our communities to learn our history or our present. Despite the forced removal of our languages from generations of children, and the attempts by settler-colonial states to remove and destroy access and belonging to our cultures and land, we continue to exist, to connect and reconnect.” Supported by Peter Blum Gallery. Courtesy of the artist.
'kʼidéin yéi jeené (you’re doing such a good job)' (2021)
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Nicholas Galanin, 'kʼidéin yéi jeené (You’re doing such a good job)', installation view at Bluecoat, Liverpool Biennial 2023. Photography by Stuart Whipps.
