Petala Ironcloud
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petalanyc.bsky.social
Petala Ironcloud
@petalanyc.bsky.social
Oglala Lakota/Dakota 🗽🪶
Writer for New York Times, Business of Fashion, PAPER, ARTnews, ArtNet, Flash Art, Observer
Reposted by Petala Ironcloud
just published my review of Smoke In Our Hair at Hudson River Museum for the @nytimes — a haunting meditation on memory, displacement, and the politics of survival. grateful to write on a show this urgent and beautiful.

www.nytimes.com/2025/05/01/a...
In an Exhibition of Native Artists, Clichés Give Way to Charged Memories
www.nytimes.com
May 6, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Hyperallergic’s social posted my review 🙌🏻
Rooted in a circular worldview in which humanity is inseparable from nature — in contrast to the linear, extractive logic of American colonialism — “Indigenous Identities” at the Zimmerli Art Museum is the most extensive display of Native American art to date, numbering 100 works by 97 artists.
Indigenous Art History Has Been Waiting for You to Catch Up
The late Jaune Quick-to-See Smith’s final curatorial salvo — the largest show of Native American art to date — carries an elegiac weight, but also thrums with life.
hyperallergic.com
May 6, 2025 at 5:31 PM
just published my review of Smoke In Our Hair at Hudson River Museum for the @nytimes — a haunting meditation on memory, displacement, and the politics of survival. grateful to write on a show this urgent and beautiful.

www.nytimes.com/2025/05/01/a...
In an Exhibition of Native Artists, Clichés Give Way to Charged Memories
www.nytimes.com
May 6, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Resurfacing my review of Oscar yi Hou’s work at James Fuentes gallery given his new group show there ✨ #petalaironcloud
www.papermag.com/oscar-yi-hou
Oscar yi Hou Keeps It Real
"I have always known who I am."
www.papermag.com
May 1, 2025 at 12:12 AM
My review of Indigenous Identities: Native Art from the Zimmerli is now live on @Hyperallergic! I look at how the show navigates institutional framing and powerful self-determined visions by artists like Jeffrey Gibson, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, and Wendy Red Star.

hyperallergic.com/1001119/indi...
Indigenous Art History Has Been Waiting for You to Catch Up
The late Jaune Quick-to-See Smith’s final curatorial salvo — the largest show of Native American art to date — carries an elegiac weight, but also thrums with life.
hyperallergic.com
April 9, 2025 at 2:10 PM
Obsessed 😂
After sparking fury from some members of Mexico’s Catholic community, contemporary artist Fabián Cháirez’s exhibition featuring suggestive portraits of queer priests and nuns has been suspended per a judge’s orders.
Mexican Artist Decries “Censorship” of Queer Nun and Priest Portraits
Fabián Cháirez’s exhibition in Mexico City was suspended on a judge’s orders after the Association of Christian Lawyers filed a legal complaint.
hyperallergic.com
March 10, 2025 at 2:56 PM
Trump emulates one of the most heinous US Presidents, Andrew Jackson, in bypassing congress re: financial institutions and agencies, ethnically cleansing Gaza, & violating constitutional rights and treaties by attempting to dismantle birthright citizenship.
February 6, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Explored the visual poetry of Amy Sherald’s "American Sublime" at SFMOMA—a revelatory exhibition that transforms how we see Black portraiture. Her grisaille figures radiate quiet power and unguarded humanity. Full review @observer. 🎨✨ #AmySherald #ArtCriticism

observer.com/2025/02/revi...
The Quiet Power of Presence: Amy Sherald at SFMOMA
As Sherald’s work has evolved technically and thematically through the 2020s, it increasingly engages with broader cultural conversations about representation.
observer.com
February 5, 2025 at 5:24 PM
Happy my review “Oysters, Baskets, and Blood: Sara Siestreem’s Bold Take on Indigenous Art” in the latest issue of BUST Magazine has arrived!

Thank you Tara Finley for your editing support! Gratitude to Sara Siestreem for allowing me to review your impactful work!

#artcriticism #NYCgalleries
February 4, 2025 at 4:16 PM
@profgalloway.com you said on @pivot DEI need be kept in corporate settings but dismantled in higher education when 43% of Harvard students are legacy admits & relatives or progeny of friends of staff. You+UCLA..? You leverage paradox to leave the door open to pander to those wealthier than you. SMH
February 4, 2025 at 1:22 PM
Luna Luna was fierce but I wish we could have ridden the amusement park rides and that it cost $10 for entry not $60. Sort of an inane commentary on how even art designed for many if intercepted by wealth becomes inaccessible for most.
January 26, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Check out my review of the debut show at NYC’s Salma Sarriedine gallery co-founded by Nadine of Showtime’s Couples Therapy.
The debut show at NYC’s Salma Sarriedine Gallery brings together artists whose works speak from society’s edges, suggesting that power often flows from the margins to the center.
13 Artists Perform Selfhood in the Age of Alienation
From Alex Ito’s shifting mirrors to Laura Anderson Barbata’s oceanic drag, each piece in this show weaves together themes of identity, protection, and transformation.
hyperallergic.com
January 26, 2025 at 4:53 PM
Performing gender, performing sex, performing race, performing class, performing national origin, performing ability

Check out my new review for @hyperallergic.com

hyperallergic.com/985030/13-ar...
13 Artists Perform Selfhood in the Age of Alienation
From Alex Ito’s shifting mirrors to Laura Anderson Barbata’s oceanic drag, each piece in this show weaves together themes of identity, protection, and transformation.
hyperallergic.com
January 22, 2025 at 10:49 PM
Gulf of America? How about the Gulf of Cheaper Eggs 🙄
January 22, 2025 at 3:02 PM
How many different articles do you pitch to editors each day?
January 16, 2025 at 10:17 PM
Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg are the two richest men in the planet’s history but deliver only misery, not masculinity to the American people.
January 14, 2025 at 7:34 PM
Looking for artist studio grants and fellowships for textile artists and writers. Any recs are helpful 🙂
January 14, 2025 at 6:23 PM
People ask “what is your work authorization” in job interviews and I say I’m an enrolled member of the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux tribe and a U.S. citizen—I’m about as authorized to work on this land as anyone can be.
January 14, 2025 at 6:22 PM
Reposted by Petala Ironcloud
Artists Raul De Lara, Shanique Emelife, Sihan Guo, and Tahnee Lonsdale draw on experience and aesthetics to dismantle boundaries imposed by the designation of “immigrant” in the US.
Four Artists Dismantle the Boundaries of “Immigrant”
Raul De Lara, Shanique Emelife, Sihan Guo, and Tahnee Lonsdale challenge conservatism through explorations of migration, spirituality, and interconnectedness.
hyperallergic.com
January 3, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Who are some sustainability advocates you follow? I am curious 👀
January 3, 2025 at 9:06 PM
Who are the artists you are watching now?
January 3, 2025 at 9:05 PM
Went on a Fort Bragg forest run 🌲🌲
January 3, 2025 at 12:28 AM
Standing on the precipice of a new era for immigration, we must remember the strength in our collectivity. My writing on dismantling boundaries around the designation “immigrant,” and the natural and spiritual world for @hyperallergic.com is live ✨

hyperallergic.com/980601/four-...
Four Artists Dismantle the Boundaries of “Immigrant”
Raul De Lara, Shanique Emelife, Sihan Guo, and Tahnee Lonsdale challenge conservatism through explorations of migration, spirituality, and interconnectedness.
hyperallergic.com
January 2, 2025 at 7:20 PM