Sky Hopinka
Born1984 (age 39–40)
Ferndale, Washington, US
NationalityHo-Chunk Nation; American
EducationPortland State University,
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Known forvideo, film, animation
Styleexperimental
AwardsMacArthur Foundation Grant
Guggenheim Fellowship
Websitewww.skyhopinka.com

Sky Hopinka (born 1984)[1] is a Native American visual artist and filmmaker who is a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation and a descendant of the Pechanga Band of Luiseño people.[2] Hopinka was awarded a MacArthur Foundation Grant in 2022.[3]

Early life and education

Hopinka was born in Ferndale, Washington,[4] and moved to Southern California as a teenager.[5]

Hopinka's undergraduate education was at Portland State University (PSU), where he became interested in documentary film. He received a Bachelor of Arts in liberal arts.[6][2] While at PSU, he started to take interest in Indigenous language revitalization.[5]

In 2013 he moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the homeland of the Ho-Chunk Nation, and enrolled at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee where he received a Master of Fine Arts degree in film, video, and new genres.[2][6]

Career

Hopinka's work deals with personal interpretations of homeland and landscape; the correlation between language and culture in relation to home and land.[2] Hopinka has said: "Deconstructing language [through cinema] is a way for me to be free from the dogma of traditional storytelling and then, from there, to explore or propose more of what Indigenous cinema has the possibility to look like."[6]

His film and video work has been featured at Media City Film Festiva[7]l, the Museum of Modern Art, New York,[1] the Walker Art Center,[8] the Tate Modern,[9] the Whitney Biennial,[10] Hessel Museum of Art at Bard College,[11] Sundance Film Festival,[12] ImagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival,[13] Toronto International Film Festival,[14] Ann Arbor Film Festival,[15] New York Film Festival,[16] among others.

Hopinka organized a film program called What Was Always Yours and Never Lost focused on Indigenous experimental cinema. The film series began in 2016 and was later shown at the 2019 Whitney Biennial.[17]

Teaching

Hopinka is former associate professor at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, where he taught film, video, and animation. He is currently assistant professor of Film and Electronic Arts at Bard College.[18] He has also taught Chinuk Wawa, an indigenous language of the Lower Columbia River Basin.[2]

Awards and honors

Collections

References

  1. ^ a b c "Sky Hopinka". Museum of Modern Art, New York. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Sky Hopinka (2018–2019) Radcliffe-Harvard Film Study Center Fellow". Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
  3. ^ a b Stevens, Matt (12 October 2022). "MacArthur Foundation Announces 25 New 'Genius' Grant Winners". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  4. ^ a b "John Simon Guggenheim Foundation - Sky Hopinka". The John Simon Guggenheim Foundation. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
  5. ^ a b Cronk, Jordan (January 28, 2020). "Sky Hopinka on Indigenous language, the afterlife, and making his first feature". Artforum Magazine. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
  6. ^ a b c Cronk, Jordan (2018). "Sky Hopinka". Filmmaker Magazine. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
  7. ^ a b "Media City Film Festival". Media City Film Festival. Retrieved 2021-03-08.
  8. ^ "Sky Hopinka: The Centers of Somewhere". Retrieved 30 August 2020.
  9. ^ "Sky Hopinka: MAŁNI". The Tate Modern Museum. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
  10. ^ a b "Sky Hopinka". Whitney Museum of American Art. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
  11. ^ "Sky Hopinka Centers of Somewhere". Hessel Museum of Art. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
  12. ^ "Malni - Towards the Ocean Towards the Shore". Sundance Film Festival. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
  13. ^ "Lore". ImagineNATIVE film festival. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
  14. ^ Shindel, Dan (13 September 2017). "Standout Shorts from the Toronto International Film Festival". Hyperallergic. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
  15. ^ "Video interview: Sky Hopinka at the 54th AAFF". Ann Arbor Film Festival. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
  16. ^ Voelcker, Becca (5 October 2018). "NYFF Interview: Sky Hopinka". Retrieved 30 August 2020.
  17. ^ "What Was Always Yours and Never Lost". Retrieved March 3, 2022.
  18. ^ "Sky Hopinka". www.bard.edu. Bard College. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  19. ^ Russeth, Andrew (6 July 2022). "A Brief Guide to the Wide, Wild World of Art Schools and Residencies". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 July 2022.
  20. ^ "MacDowell Awards Winter-Spring Fellowships to 87 Artists". MacDowell. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  21. ^ "maɬni – towards the ocean, towards the shore (2020)". Sky Hopinka. Retrieved 2021-03-08.
  22. ^ "THE 54The Ann Arbor Film Festival Award Winning Films". Ann Arbor Film Festival. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
  23. ^ "Sky Hopinka: Memories of Movement". Retrieved March 3, 2022.

External links

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