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Artists›Nicholas Galanin

Nicholas Galanin

Artist

PrintmakingConceptual Art

Representation

None documented

Institutional Exhibitions

Works in Collection

Assets Indexed

Authority-backed Facts

Publications Referenced

70%

Profile Completeness

Cultural Positioning

Movements

• Conceptual Art

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About

Why this artist matters now

Nicholas Galanin is a Native American artist born in 1979 whose practice engages sculpture, installation, and video to address Indigenous sovereignty, colonial history, and cultural repatriation. Working across materials including carved wood, found objects, and digital media, his work directly confronts the legacies of museum collecting and ethnographic display. His formal approach combines traditional Indigenous craftsmanship with conceptual strategies that interrogate how Indigenous bodies and artifacts have been positioned within Western institutions.

Source: Moma Bulk 2026 05 04 · Trust score: 92% · Updated 25d ago

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Movement

Conceptual Art

Medium

Printmaking

Related Artists

12 in graph

Institutional

Museum Collections

The Metropolitan Museum of Art Cleveland Museum of Art Museum of Modern ArtNew York Art Institute of Chicago Whitney Museum of American Art

Canonical record

Artworks (10)

WattsOS

Dreaming in English (from our hands)

2021 · Monotype and metal leaf on paper

Sheet (irregular): 29 7/8 × 22 1/2 in. (75.9 × 57.2 cm) Image (irregular): 23 1/4 × 15 3/8 in. (59.1 × 39.1 cm)

Whitney Museum of American Art

WattsOS

Dreaming in English (traveler)

2021 · Monotype and gold leaf on paper

Sheet (irregular): 30 × 22 3/4 in. (76.2 × 57.8 cm) Image (irregular): 26 × 18 3/4 in. (66 × 47.6 cm)

Whitney Museum of American Art

WattsOS

Dreaming in English (sequence)

2021 · Monotype and metal leaf on paper

Sheet (irregular): 30 × 22 1/2 in. (76.2 × 57.2 cm) Image (irregular): 24 3/4 × 15 1/4 in. (62.9 × 38.7 cm)

Whitney Museum of American Art

WattsOS

Control after A tú (Inside a closed container)

2021 · Inkjet print

Sheet: 32 × 25 5/8 in. (81.3 × 65.1 cm) Image: 32 × 25 5/8 in. (81.3 × 65.1 cm)

Whitney Museum of American Art

WattsOS

Never forget / Yéil Ya-Tseen = Nicholas Galanin

2021

1 volume (unpaged) : color illustrations ; Height: 11 in. (28 cm)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

WattsOS

Dreaming in English (shadow dance)

2021 · Color monotype with gold leaf on paper

Image and Sheet: 76 x 57.2 cm (29 15/16 x 22 1/2 in.); Mount: 82.6 x 63.8 cm (32 1/2 x 25 1/8 in.)

Cleveland Museum of Art

WattsOS

Nicholas Galanin : let them enter dancing and showing their faces = Yéil Ya-Tseen : neil has ya̲xdaxoon

2020

144 pages : illustrations (chiefly color) ; Height: 10 1/4 in. (26 cm)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The violence of blood quantum, half human (animal), half human (animal) after James Luna

2019 · Two halves of torn inkjet print

Each 20 1/2 × 15 1/2" (52.1 × 39.4 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

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Record

Images

Artsy

Art Institute of Chicago

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Movements and affiliations

Conceptual Art

Movement

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Institutional

Representation & Collections

In collection

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

In collection

Cleveland Museum of Art

In collection

Museum of Modern Art

New York, US

In collection

Art Institute of Chicago

In collection

Whitney Museum of American Art

Record

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