Settler Haunting: Phantom Presence in American Memory
John Jota Leaños explores the presence of settler colonial haunting and the specters of historical amnesia in the American landscape and psyche. Through the animation of historical narratives and speculative Indigeneity, this talk highlights Leaños’s artistic work on memory, haunting, territory, and history.
Following the Global Speed Series lecture, please join us for an intimate dinner with John Jota Leaños, Museum Director Raphaela Platow, and members of the Speed's curatorial and senior leadership teams. Tickets are $75 a piece and can be purchased here.
About the Speaker:
John Jota Leaños is a Mestizo (Xicano/Italian-American/Chumash) interdisciplinary artist and animator concerned with the embattled terrains of history and memory as they relate to nation, power and decolonization. A Guggenheim Fellow of Film and Media, Creative Capital Artist and United States Artist (USArtist) Fellow, Leaños’s practice includes a range of media arts, documentary animation, video, public art, installation and performance. His work has been shown at the Sundance Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival, PBS.org, the Whitney Biennial, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Cannes Film Festival, France; PBS.org, Manifesta 13: La Biennale Européenne de Création Contemporaine, aluCine Toronto Latin@ Media Festival, Ars Electronica 2020, Tehran International Animation Festival, Iran, and other venues. Leaños’ animated films have won Best Animation at the 39th Annual American Indian Film Festival, XicanIndie Film Festival, Denver, Best Animation, Arizona International Film Festival, 2021 Cult Critic Awards, and VideoFest, San Francisco. He is currently a Professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz in the Department of Film and Digital Media.