Artist Talk
Persisting on the Land: Indigenous Time, Place, and Contemporary Counter-Narratives
In conjunction with the exhibition Irriṯitja Kuwarri Tjungu: Contemporary Aboriginal Painting from the Australian Desert
January 22–April 11, 2026
The Grey Art Museum and Center CIRCL present a talk by artist and curator Jeremy Dennis that situates his practice within broader Indigenous frameworks of time, place, and persistence. As a member of the Shinnecock Indian Nation, Dennis foregrounds land as a living archive in his work, challenging colonial narratives that frame Indigenous presence as historical rather than ongoing. In conversation with the visual expressions of ancestral continuity in Papunya Tula paintings, Dennis examines how contemporary Indigenous artists maintain relationships to place despite centuries of dispossession and imposed erasure, as well as how their work articulates ideas of time that defy colonial occupation and linear historical models.
Visitor Access & Registration
Please register to attend this event—registration opens January 27. For attendance without an active NYU ID card, RSVP by Monday, February 23 to guarantee building access.
Arrive early to view Irriṯitja Kuwarri Tjungu before the lecture—the exhibition will be open from 11 am to 6 pm on February 24.
NYU’s Grey Art Museum provides reasonable accommodations to people with disabilities. Requests for accommodations should be submitted at least two weeks in advance. Please email greyartmuseum@nyu.edu or call (212) 998-6780 for assistance.
Irriṯitja Kuwarri Tjungu is organized by the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia in partnership with Papunya Tula Artists.
