For her first New York solo show, milk and honey, Sara Siestreem (Hanis Coos) brings together installation, ceramics, and collage, creating powerful works that evoke issues around education, social justice, ecology, and Indigenous feminism. A member of the Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians, Siestreem is inspired by ancestral traditions, such as beadwork, basketry, and weaving, which she reimagines in her practice. Siestreem’s work is in several prominent collections, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and Forge Project, the Native-led nonprofit that also awarded her a fellowship in 2022.
milk and honey features mixed-media paintings that draw from Indigenous traditions and the language of abstraction with geometric shapes and gestural paint drips. In some, Siestreem hints at recognizable imagery like hands and oyster shells. These shells are found in middens—piles of domestic materials like food and detritus that were created by Native communities for generations. Siestreem’s use of the oyster shell image serves as a reminder of the groups displaced by colonists. Coinciding with the show, Cristin Tierney Gallery will showcase Siestreem’s work at The Armory Show in a joint presentation with Elizabeth Leach Gallery.
