One Becomes the Other (2014–2016) and I Was Here (2018)

The Rail invites you to join us for virtual screenings of one becomes the other (2014–2016) and I Was Here (2018) by artist Jeffrey Gibson. Register to receive a 24-hour access link to the films.

In this screening

Jeffrey Gibson, one becomes the other, 2014-16. Single channel video. 19:25 minutes.

Jeffrey Gibson’s one becomes the other (2014–2016) is set in the Native American archives and art storage of the Denver Art Museum. We see a man speaking Kiowa pick up a hand drum from a shelf and begin to play. A woman in a long, white dress with colorful patterns enters the halls, dancing in time. There is an improvised moment where an art handler asks to participate in the filming. He opens a drawer, and finds a Navajo weaving comb like his grandmother’s. He talks to the comb as if it is his deceased grandmother, bringing himself to tears. The sleeping objects are understood as living.

Jeffrey Gibson, I Was Here, 2018. Single channel video with original music by Tanya Tagaq. 08:40 minutes.
Vocals: Tanya Tagaq. Director of Photography and Editor: Brett Novak. Camera Operator: Maxwell Flick.

Jeffrey Gibson’s I Was Here (2018) mixes documentary and dramatic styles and centers on Macy, a transgender woman and a member of the Choctaw Nation. Blurring the lines between a mystical, natural setting and Macy’s daily reality, Gibson’s film examines the private and personal routines of transformation and self. The film’s location, the Choctaw reservation in central Mississippi where Gibson’s family is from, plays a significant role in the film’s blend of spirituality, ritual, and the fantastical. The film was commissioned by the Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art at Hamilton College for Gibson’s 2018 exhibition This Is the Day.

Read Jeffrey Gibson in conversation with former Director of Programs Nick Bennett in the December 2019 issue of the Brooklyn Rail→

Watch NSE #149: Jeffrey Gibson in conversation with Nick Bennett and Amber Jamilla Musser→

Visit Jeffrey Gibson: the space in which to place me, on view at the Venice Biennale through November 24, 2024→

Jeffrey Gibson

Based in Hudson NY, interdisciplinary artist Jeffrey Gibson is a member of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and of Cherokee descent. Raised in Europe, Asia and the United States, Gibson developed an interest in notions of cultural translations and the relationship between difference and desire. Remixing and redefining histories of struggle and freedom, his installations and performances especially cultivate shared social spaces of reflection and release. In 2024, he was the first Indigenous artist to represent the United States in a solo presentation at the Venice Biennale.

More on Jeffrey Gibson

• jeffreygibson.net
•  @jeffrune

Screening —