New art gallery, 'Kukani,' building cultural bridges

Downtown Albuquerque’s newest art space, Kukani, is owned and operated by an Indigenous artist, Jesse Littlebird.

Littlebird recently appeared on the Journal podcast “Work in Progress: Conversations with Creators” and spoke about his hopes that Kukani would build bridges across different cultural and artistic communities.

“The gallery’s name is Kukani, which is a Keres word. It comes from my Keres heritage from Laguna and Santo Domingo (pueblos), specifically the Keres dialect from Laguna. It means simply ‘red,’ but it also describes the red earth, so that describes a lot of the iron oxide red earth that we have here in New Mexico,” Littlebird said.

“It is a place that we are looking to foster community in ways that aren’t seen here. We’re not trying to fit in the mold of other galleries. We run a nonprofit side, as well, alongside the commercial gallery,” he said.

Littlebird said he wants to showcase artists with interesting and diverse backgrounds whose stories aren’t being told elsewhere.

“One of the artists that we represent, Ruben Cantu, grew up going back and forth between Panama and here. So, he has a very unique experience that we’re really trying to champion at our gallery,” Littlebird said. “And his (critical) take on pop culture and American consumerism really aligns with our vision, and my vision as a curator at the gallery.”

Both of Littlebird’s parents were artists, so he said he grew up immersed in a world of “Indigenous storytelling.”

At Kukani’s grand opening on March 27, he exhibited a painting by his father, Larry Littlebird, alongside his own work and that of several emerging artists, emphasizing cultural continuity across generations. As Jesse Littlebird explained, Indigenous artists do not always try to be original above all else, but often seek to balance individual and collective modes of expression.

“There’s freedom in carrying on a legacy,” Littlebird said. “There’s a lot of that here, specifically in the Native art world. You can see it in jewelry. You can see it in pottery. You apprentice under your elders.”

Littlebird wants to bring that community-centered way of thinking and acting to Kukani, making it a place where everyone can feel welcome and where conceptual and formal experimentation can coexist with works that are deeply rooted in tradition.

“We want to make art accessible to everyone,” he said.

Part of his strategy to make Kukani accessible and inclusive involves selling affordable prints and streetwear, similar to what Keith Haring did with his Pop Shop on the New York subway. The idea is to put contemporary art within reach of a much broader cross-section of people, beyond wealthy art collectors.

Littlebird is also partnering with other galleries, namely FaraHNHeight Fine Art in Santa Fe and Revolt Gallery in Taos.

“We call ourselves the Road North Collective,” he said. “In the future, we would like to have experiences where people could fly in from all over the world and make a trip up this ‘road north,’ between the three galleries. But right now we’re just in the beginning stages of it.”

“I always say that’s the most exciting period,” Littlebird added, “because we haven’t really defined exactly what it’s going to be, but we’re in this space where there’s a bright future on the horizon.”

Littlebird said one of the most important kernels of philosophy he got from his father was the importance of listening — whether listening to nature, listening to other people or listening for an unfinished painting to tell him what it wants to become.

“All storytelling really does start with listening,” Littlebird said.

And he wants Kukani to evolve naturally, too, through a process of listening to local artists and community members. Littlebird’s open-minded, open-hearted approach might make it hard to predict exactly what Kukani will look like in one year, or five years. But it’s already a dynamic addition to Downtown Albuquerque, and it will be exciting to see how it develops.

New art gallery, 'Kukani,' building cultural bridges