A Forty Year Divide: Artistic Reflections from Akwesasró:non, Kanonwatshén:ri Sue Herne

Lougheed Learning Commons, Crumb Library

State University of New York at Potsdam

Featuring paintings by Kononwa'tshén:ri Sue Herne, interactive art, and opening panel reflections by Akwesasro:non:

Amie Barnes

Kawennahén:te Cook

Teyútkwʌ Jasmine Jimerson

Yvette White.

The opening event and permanent display was conceived and curated with the artist, Kononwa'tshén:ri Sue Herne, who lives and works at Akwesasne, to explore the many changes in her community during the forty years between the creation of the two paintings—one of which was completed while she was a 2022 LoKo Festival guest artist. The two painting are now on permanent display in the Lougheed Learning Commons. Please join us as we continue this conversation through future events.

Video footage from A Forty Year Divide was edited in collaboration with Kathleen Mahony (SUNY Potsdam Art Department) and it is now posted on the artist’s channel.

Kononwa'tshén:ri Sue Herne

Kahentà:ke Tehonatskà:nhon tsi Wateriiohseróhare

(Dinner on the Lawn While a War is Going On)

1980, Oil on canvas,

Collection of the Charles T. Weaver Museum of Anthropology, SUNY Potsdam

Artist's statement: This painting is my Guernica . PRETENTIOUS BUT TRUE. I was looking at things in a small circle, trying to make sense of family and community violence. The painting imagines a scene from a photograph as a record of shared struggles. The painting itself is a record of my personal struggle to understand the circumstances around me.

Kononwa'tshén:ri Sue Herne

Teionkwarihwaienawà:kon aiethiia’tanónhstate’ ne ionkhi’nisténha tsi

ohontsiá:te tánon’ aonsetewaháhara’ne’ ne sha’oié:ra

(We are working together to protect our mother earth and to get back on our path /on track in accordance with the natural world)

2022, Oil on canvas

Collection of the Charles T. Weaver Museum of Anthropology, SUNY Potsdam

Artist's statement: The painting is a hope-filled call to action, a call to change, and a tribute to those who are leading the way. The painting reflects the foundation of traditional teachings that I have learned over the years and recognizes the trauma that reaches across the earth. We see our small part of the circle, recognizing that the circle is large, larger than we can even see.

Museums Without Borders

A Forty Year Divide: Artistic Reflections from Akwesasró:non, Kanonwatshén:ri Sue Herne

Both paintings share themes of Indigenous Politics, Domestic Violence, MMIP (missing or murdered indigenous persons), Decolonization, and Stewardship of the Earth. Both paintings strive to stand up to threats and violence.”

Museums Without Borders

A Forty Year Divide: Artistic Reflections from Akwesasró:non, Kanonwatshén:ri Sue Herne

Both paintings share themes of Indigenous Politics, Domestic Violence, MMIP (missing or murdered indigenous persons), Decolonization, and Stewardship of the Earth. Both paintings strive to stand up to threats and violence.”

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