All Ages, ADA Accessible

Anna Tsouhlarakis’ work reconsiders and redefines what Native art is and can be. Grounded in themes of strength, resilience, humor and determination, her work confirms new ways of elevating the stories and struggles of Native American communities. This exhibition will include a selection of new and existing artworks that center Native voices in original and restoring ways.  

“There are certain perceptions and expectations that confine Native American Art. I am interested in challenging and stretching the boundaries of aesthetic and conceptual expectations to reclaim and rewrite Native definitions of making through video, performance, sculpture, photography, and installation,” said Anna Tsouhlarakis. 

“Exquisitely minimalist and monochromatic in form and presentation, Tsouhlarakis’ work is direct and arresting. It is also accessible and inviting, it just pulls you in and makes want to know more,” explains exhibition curator, Jill Desmond. Comprised primarily of video, sculpture and large-scale collage, this exhibition explores the use of humor and symbolism to spotlight the experiences and resilience of Native American women. This was not the artist’s initial intention, as she feels her work has historically been genderless, but the voices, perspectives and strength of Native women is what emerged.  

Born in Lawrence, Kansas, Tsouhlarakis hails from a family of artists. She spent many summers on the Navajo reservation in New Mexico and attending art markets around the country with her father who was a jeweler. This is where her interest in sculpture began; she would use found materials, gathered by her father, to explore the three-dimensionality of the sculptural form.   

Meticulous in execution and complex in meaning, Tsouhlarakis’ sculptures are comprised of three grounding elements: animal, body and found objects. Some directly reference her Native culture while others represent western influences, such as her use of Ikea objects. These elements are then bound together, an action used in various ways in Navajo culture such as when babies are swaddled in cradleboards, the binding of hair and other daily applications of this craft.     

Tsouhlarakis first began working with text and language in 2012 with her iconic installation, Edges of the Ephemeral (outdoor installation, which will be presented in BIFA 2025). These text-based works evolved over time into projects including The Native Guide Project (which will also be exhibited throughout Breck Create’s Arts District for BIFA 2025), and the artist’s more recent large-scale collage work.   

Using the immediacy of language, Tsouhlarakis incorporates Native colloquialisms and popular memes into her collages. These are at once familiar in structure and intent—a format that pulls the viewer in with its economy of style and clarity of message. Then, with her jarring and sometimes unsettling use of humor, the artist deconstructs and re-examines non-Native delusions of presumed Native historical narratives. Through this use of humor, Tsouhlarakis captures a pared down essence of Native storytelling, teasing, jokes and innuendo to beautifully document an insider glimpse of Native culture. According to Tsouhlarakis, “it is humor and levity that make it all bearable. We use humor to get through what we have to endure.” 

Breck Create is honored to partner with Anna Tsouhlarakis on both this exhibition presentation and BIFA 2025.