I Am Ishi: The Performance Art Film

  • Introduction

    Dmitri Brown is a historian focusing on modern Native American and Indigenous experiences and Associate Professor of History at UC Berkeley.

Drawing from and expanding on the late James Luna’s ISHI: The Archive Performance, Dana Claxton and members of the Ishi Collective recount the story of the last known member of the Yahi people, who appeared near the town of Oroville, California, in 1911. Taken in by University of California anthropologists, he became a subject of study and was brought to live in the museum on campus, where he worked as a janitor. Ishi’s tragic story, embodied and retold through the layered performances of collective members, serves as a haunting interrogation of the legacy of dehumanizing colonial anthropological and museum practices. 

Kate MacKay
FILM DETAILS 
Print Info
  • Color
  • Digital
  • 111 mins
Source
  • Dana Claxton
Additional Info
  • Produced by the Ishi Collective: James Luna, Dana Claxton, Jeneen Frei Njootli, Heather Haynes

Event Accessibility

If you have any questions about accessibility or require accommodations to participate in this event, please contact us at bampfa@berkeley.edu or call us at (510) 642-1412 (during open hours) with as much advance notice as possible. More information on accessibility services.