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Cannupa Hanska Luger’s exhibition American Traditional is on view at Garth Greenan Gallery in New York, according to a Hyperallergic review. The review describes the 2026 works as a shift toward wood, ink and archival imagery, connecting the destruction of bison to the trauma experienced by Plains Indigenous peoples.
Cannupa Hanska Luger’s exhibition American Traditional is on view at Garth Greenan Gallery in New York, where the Native artist presents works drawing on wood, ink and archival imagery to address the destruction of bison and its consequences for Indigenous communities. In a review, Hyperallergic critic Hrag Vartanian describes the show as a more declarative direction for Luger, whose work has often involved participatory projects and ceramics.
The exhibition includes Requiem (2026), which the review describes as a black, abstracted bison positioned on a blackened rendering of a 19th-century American wood dining table. Another work, Shoots Today, Kills Tomorrow (2026), appears in a photograph of Luger with the piece. The review’s account emphasizes how the works combine formal beauty with imagery and materials associated with historical violence.
Vartanian connects the exhibition to the 19th-century commercial slaughter of bison, which expanded with settlers’ access to horses, firearms and railroads. For Plains Indigenous peoples, the animals were a source of food, clothing, shelter and fuel, as well as kin. The review draws on Cree scholar Tasha Hubbard’s account of the destruction as a “genocide carried out by proxy” and a major source of trauma for Plains communities.
The article also places Luger’s work alongside efforts to present painful historical images with care. Vartanian recalls a photograph of a hill of buffalo skulls that Yurok artist Stormi Turner covered with a small curtain in a museum exhibition. That earlier intervention, the critic writes, informed his response to Luger’s show. The source material does not provide an exhibition end date, attendance figures or a statement from the gallery about the show.
Bison History at the Center
The exhibition addresses a history in which the destruction of bison was bound to the displacement and hardship of Plains Indigenous nations. The works invite viewers to consider the animals not simply as a resource or symbol, but as relatives and central members of communities. This framing follows Hubbard’s scholarship as presented in the review, rather than treating it as an uncontested statement made by every historian or community.
The show also raises questions about how museums and galleries display images tied to mass violence. Turner’s curtain, as described by Vartanian, gave viewers a choice about encountering the buffalo-skull photograph. Luger takes a different approach: the review reads his sculptural forms as embedding the history of destruction within the work itself. The contrast makes the exhibition relevant to current debates over representation, historical memory and care in cultural institutions.
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From Archive to Sculpture
Luger was born on the Standing Rock Reservation and is an enrolled citizen of the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation, according to the review. Vartanian situates his knowledge of bison history within those Great Plains ties. The exhibition’s use of archival reference and sculptural materials marks, in the critic’s view, a shift from the participatory, ceramics-heavy projects associated with Luger’s earlier work.
The review cites historian Mari Sandoz’s 1954 book The Buffalo Hunters: The Story of the Hide Men for an account of the scale of bison life before industrial hunting. It also quotes historical military figures to show how some officials understood the political consequences of the slaughter. Colonel Richard Irving Dodge is quoted advising hunters that “every buffalo dead is an Indian gone.” Vartanian also recounts a statement attributed to General Philip H. Sheridan opposing a proposed 1875 Texas bill to protect bison. These quotations are historical evidence discussed by the reviewer, not statements made by Luger or the gallery.
““a synthesis of wood, ink, and archive””
— Hyperallergic critic Hrag Vartanian, describing the exhibition
Exhibition Details Not Reported
The source is an art review, not a gallery announcement or a full exhibition catalogue. It does not state when the exhibition closes, how many works are included, or whether the gallery has published additional interpretive material. The review describes selected works and offers Vartanian’s critical interpretation; it does not establish that every visitor or Indigenous community will read the works in the same way.
Gallery Schedule and Further Coverage
Readers seeking practical information about visiting the exhibition will need to check Garth Greenan Gallery’s current schedule, since the review does not give opening or closing dates. Further reporting or gallery materials could clarify the show’s full scope, the number and titles of works, and any public programming connected to it. No additional announcements or next exhibition milestone were included in the source material.
Key Questions
Where is American Traditional being shown?
The exhibition is at Garth Greenan Gallery in Soho, New York, according to the Hyperallergic review.
Which works does the review discuss?
The review discusses Requiem (2026), featuring an abstracted bison on a blackened table form, and refers to Shoots Today, Kills Tomorrow (2026).
What history does the exhibition address?
The works are discussed in relation to the commercial slaughter of bison and the resulting harm to Plains Indigenous peoples, for whom bison were sources of sustenance and kin.
When does the exhibition close?
The review does not give a closing date. Check the gallery’s current visitor information for the latest schedule.
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