A/political Rocks and Indigenous Relations to Land: A Lecture with Prof. Christopher Teuton

Join us for a special program with Chris Teuton, Professor and Chair of the Department of American Indian Studies at the University of Washington, and Adam Monohon, the curator of A/political Rocks, a current Henry exhibition that explores the role of landscape photography in shaping experiences of the American West. A citizen of the Cherokee nation, Professor Teuton will speak about Indigenous relations to land, plants, and creatures through the lenses of oral traditional knowledge and cultural revitalization. Following this presentation, Monohon will join Teuton for a dialogue around questions of land and landscape, discussing the varied ways of knowing and seeing nature, and the power and politics of landscape photography. The event will conclude with a Q+A with audience members.

Christopher Teuton teaches courses on Indigenous literature and storytelling, Indigenous Studies, and Indigenous research methods at the University of Washington. His scholarship involves Indigenous oral and written literary studies, community-based cultural heritage and language revitalization work, and fieldwork exploring the perpetuation of Indigenous arts and epistemologies. He has published three books, including most recently Cherokee Earth Dwellers: Stories and Teachings of the Natural World (UW Press, 2023) which was co-created with the late Cherokee National Treasures Hastings Shade and Loretta Shade and presents a Cherokee ecology explored through Cherokee creature names, environmental relationships, traditional stories, and philosophical discussions with fluent Cherokee speakers and knowledge keepers. His leadership and service focus on increasing the understanding, reach, and impact of Native American and Indigenous Studies as an academic discipline grounded in Indigenous research methods that arise from the ethical, sustainable, and living knowledges of Indigenous communities. In his work, he embodies an evolving understanding of what it means to be a good relative in support of Indigenous communities, sovereignties, and decolonization. To that end, he strives to make space for Coast Salish communities and knowledges.

Adam Monohon is a Ph.D. student in Art History at the University of California, Los Angeles. He was formerly Curatorial Department Coordinator at the Henry. An art historian and curator, he specializes in the history, historiography, and theory of photography in its global contexts. Monohon has curated, co-curated, and supported the development of numerous exhibitions of photographs across institutions such as the Center for Creative Photography, J. Paul Getty Museum, Phoenix Art Museum, and the Henry.