10/12/2026
Today is Indigenous Peoples’ Day. The Heckscher Museum of Art is situated on the traditional territory of the Matinecock Tribal Nation, whose presence continues in New York today. We acknowledge the meaning and sacredness of the land to the Matinecock and their sister tribes on Long Island. We recognize histories of land theft, violence, and erasure, as well as the continued disenfranchisement and displacements of Indigenous Peoples. We are committed to building a more inclusive and equitable Museum for all.
The Heckscher is honored to celebrate the work of several Indigenous artists in the current exhibition, Eclipse of the Sun Now.
Cannupa Hanska Luger is an interdisciplinary artist and cultural innovator born on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in North Dakota. Luger is an enrolled member of the Three Affiliated Tribes of Fort Berthold (Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara) and Lakota. His expansive creative and philosophical practice introduces new methodologies, ideas, and speculative technologies that reflect Indigenous innovation and shift collective thinking. Lugar’s bold visual storytelling offers new ways of seeing our shared humanity while centering an Indigenous worldview. With a socially engaged practice spanning public art, large-scale installation, ceramic sculpture, performance, time-based media, writing, and land-based actions of repair, Luger’s work blends critical cultural analysis with Indigenous advocacy and deep respect for the diverse materials, landscapes, and communities he engages.
Courtney M. Leonard is a multimedia artist, filmmaker, and enrolled Tribal Member of the Shinnecock Indian Nation in Southampton, New York. As a contributor to the Offshore Art Movement, Leonard’s practice investigates narratives of cultural viability as a reflection of environmental record. Leonard is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Art at Stony Brook University. Her work is guided by and embodies multiple definitions of “breach,” leading to exploration and documentation of historical ties to water, whale, and material sustainability. In 2023, the Heckscher Museum commissioned Leonard to create CONTACT 2,023… for her retrospective exhibition at the Museum.
Jeremy Dennis is a contemporary fine art photographer, an enrolled Tribal Member of the Shinnecock Indian Nation in Southampton, New York, and the founder and lead artist of Ma’s House & BIPOC Art Studio, Inc., an artist-led nonprofit art space and residency on the Shinnecock Reservation. His practice brings together staged photography, landscape, archival research, installation, public history, and community-based projects. Through this work, Dennis examines Indigenous identity, memory, land, and the continuing presence of Native histories on Long Island. His photographs often move between cinematic storytelling and place-based research, creating images that challenge colonial erasure while connecting contemporary Shinnecock life with ancestral stories, oral histories, and cultural sovereignty.
🖼️: Installation Photograph of Cannupa Hanska Luger, Corruption, 2021, Ceramic and mixed media, Art Bridges; Courtney M. Leonard, CONTACT 2,023…, 2023, Canvas, ceramic, brass, and artificial sinew, The Heckscher Museum of Art; Jeremy Dennis, Weeckatuck, from GELI (Gift Edition Long Island), 2016, Archival inkjet print, The Heckscher Museum of Art.
