Jeffrey Gibson, (b. 1972 Colorado), Souvenir, 2018, Quilt Topper, canvas, acrylic paint, assorted glass and stone beads, nylon fringe and artificial sinew, 85 1/2 in. x 67 in. x 2 1/2 in. (217.2 cm x 170.2 cm x 6.4 cm), Museum purchase with funds provided by Cecily E. Horton (Class of 1980) 2018.222

The Davis Museum recently acquired Souvenir by Jeffrey Gibson (Choctaw/Cherokee). Born in Colorado in 1972, Gibson moved often as a child, living in North Carolina, New Jersey, West Germany, and South Korea, as his father worked supplying goods to U.S. military bases. His studies were also global: he graduated with a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and an MA from the Royal College of Art, London. During his years abroad, Gibson felt that he was treated solely as an American and not as a Native American. This prior invisibility inspires his artistic goal to make his Native American identity recognizable. Working across media, he explores narrative deconstructions of images and language, and combines traditional Native American craft with contemporary cultural production and references in his art. His work is in the permanent collections of numerous museums, including the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Denver Art Museum, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

In Souvenir, Gibson creates an innovative sculpture that embodies a rich multiplicity of Native stories and traditions. The top of the work is constructed from quilt blocks and white cloth, dyed in vivid pink, green, blue, and yellow, and decorated with beaded elements. A beaded skull sits prominently on the torso. This skull may relate to an experience Gibson had working at the Field Museum, where an interaction with an ancestor’s skull made him realize that he could not ignore how all indigenous objects own “their own individual life forces and personal histories.”  The skirt is made from a cascade of colorful tassels, referencing Powwow regalia. The form of the textile-based sculpture is inspired by the ghost shirts worn during the nineteenth-century Ghost Dance movement, which were believed to be able to guard against bullets. Here, Gibson creates a garment symbolic of faith and belief. He has described how it hovers above viewers, so “that there is a garment looking over you that is representative of protection and representative of a familial, generational, cultural history” of Native Americans.

  1“JEFFREY GIBSON with Nick Bennett – The Brooklyn Rail.” 2019. The Brooklyn Rail. https://brooklynrail.org/2018/12/art/JEFFREY-GIBSON-with-Nick-Bennett.
  2 Sanden Wolff. “Meet the Artist: Jeffrey Gibson | Whitney Biennial 2019”. June 3, 2019. Whitney Museum of American Art, 2:10. https://www.artandobject.com/video/meet-artist-jeffrey-gibson