For PLATFORM 28, Dana Claxton (Hunkpapa Lakota/Sioux, based in Vancouver) adapts one of her photographs to a monumental scale as a billboard in deCordova’s Sculpture Park. With sly humor and references from film and television, she subverts oppressive stereotypes of Indigenous people and confronts how they perpetuate the violence of colonization. Emphasizing Indigenous survival, Claxton frequently pictures friends, and colleagues in her work and styles them in clothing and designs that integral to Lakota Sioux culture.

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Claxton’s commission is connected to Jeffrey Gibson’s Because Once You Enter My House, It Becomes Our House, opening in early June 2021. Gibson invited Claxton and fellow Indigenous artists to perform and create new artwork on and around this installation.

PLATFORM is a series of one-person commissioned projects by early-and mid-career artists from New England, national, and international art communities that engage with deCordova’s unique landscape. The PLATFORM series lets artists expand their practice and visitors experience new approaches to contemporary sculpture.

— From the PLATFORM Series’ website