Arts / event
Cannupa Hanska Luger's 'REFLECT' Opens in Washington, Marking 10 Years of the Mirror Shield Project
The Corcoran exhibition, on view through Feb. 19, 2027, is both an archive of the project begun at Standing Rock and a place to make new shields.
Cannupa Hanska Luger's REFLECT opened Wednesday, Oct. 28, at George Washington University's Corcoran School of the Arts & Design in Washington, D.C., marking 10 years of his Mirror Shield Project. Presented by For Freedoms, the exhibition runs through Feb. 19, 2027.
"Ten years since the creation of a mirror shield and the concept remains relevant," Luger said in the exhibition's release. "My personal thoughts are that someday it will be forgotten and the need for such devices will become unfathomable."
Luger is Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara and Lakota, and an enrolled member of the Three Affiliated Tribes of Fort Berthold. Born on the Standing Rock Reservation, he works across installation, sculpture, performance and social collaboration.
The Mirror Shield Project began in 2016 in support of Water Protectors opposing the Dakota Access Pipeline at Standing Rock. With filmmaker Razelle Benally, Luger made How to Build Mirror Shields for Water Protectors, a video shared openly on social media that showed people how to make reflective shields from inexpensive materials. People made shields and sent them to the camp, and the project later travelled into other movements.
At Oceti Sakowin Camp, Luger worked with artist Rory Wakemup and the Water Protectors on an action in which hundreds of shields were held overhead and turned toward the surveillance aircraft circling the camp, according to the release.
REFLECT brings together photographs, videos, clothing, ephemera and documentation made by people who took part in the project. For Freedoms describes it as both a living archive and a working toolshed, where visitors, artists, students and community groups are invited to make shields and take part in performances.
The exhibition follows how the shields have functioned as sculpture, protective tools, teaching resources and instruments for performance. It is part of Counting Coup: We Are the People, Luger's residency at the Corcoran, and opened alongside Eric Gottesman's Night and Day.
REFLECT is in the Flagg Building's North Atrium at 500 17th Street NW. The Corcoran's regular Flagg gallery hours are Wednesday through Saturday, 1 to 5 p.m. Eastern; visitors should check its calendar for holiday closures.
