The Sacred Nothing resituates a body of images taken while Lujan was an artist-in-residence with the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) in 2005. The photographs depict cultural objects “behind the scenes” of the NMAI Cultural Resource Center, in storage or undergoing conservation and documentation. The project shows these objects removed from their original context and how their meanings shift when they appear as specimens or patients awaiting surgery. The encased architecture of the Vitrines advances the displacement of disused objects further.
Jason Lujan is originally from Marfa, Texas, and lives in Toronto, ON. Lujan is an Assistant Professor at OCAD U and one of two artists behind Native Art Department International (NADI), a project in collaboration with Maria Hupfield. He has exhibited at the University of Toronto Art Museum (ON), MOCA Toronto (ON), Mercer Union (ON), Museo Nacional de Culturas Populares (CDMX), Art Mur (QB), Museum of Contemporary Native Art (NM) , Five Myles Gallery (NY), Art Gallery of Guelph (ON), and the Crisp-Ellert Art Museum (FL). Professionally, Lujan has contributed to, planned, and managed exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Dia Art Foundation, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Park Avenue Armory. He is represented by MKG127 in Toronto.
