Jimmie Durham

Jimmie Bob Durham (July 10, 1940 – November 17, 2021) was an American sculptor, essayist and poet.

Jimmie Durham was born on July 10, 1940, in Houston, Harris County, Texas, although he claimed he was born in Nevada County, Arkansas, or Washington, Hempstead County, Arkansas.

His parents were Jerry Loren Durham and Ethel Pauline Simmons Durham, both born in Arkansas and buried in Texas.

He was active in the United States in the civil rights movements of African Americans and Native Americans in the 1960s and 1970s, serving on the central council of the American Indian Movement (AIM).

He returned to working at art while living in New York City.

His work has been extensively exhibited.

In the 1960s Durham became active in theater, performance and literature related to the civil rights movement in the 1960s.

In 1965 he moved to Austin, where he worked at the University of Texas at Austin and started exhibiting his work.

His first solo exhibition in Austin was in 1965.

In 1969 Durham moved to Geneva, Switzerland, where he studied at L'École des Beaux-Arts.

In 1973, Durham returned to the United States and became involved with the American Indian Movement (AIM).

From 1973 until 1980 he worked as a political organizer with AIM, becoming a member of the movement's Central Council and representing himself as Native American.

Usually he claimed to be Cherokee and wrote on behalf of the organization.

In 1974, he attended International Indian Treaty Council (IITC) conference at the Standing Rock Indian Reservation.

He later became chief administrator of the IITC and worked toward the United Nations granting the IITC status as a "Category II nongovernmental organization observer and consultant under the Economic and Social Council."

Durham befriended Winona LaDuke (White Earth Ojibwe) and encouraged her activism.

Paul Chaat Smith (Comanche) and Durham resigned from the IITC and AIM in 1979 over disagreements about AIM's support of Cuba and other Soviet allies.

After moving to New York City, Durham focused his attention to visual art.

He created sculptures that challenged conventional representations of North American Indians.

He exhibited and published essays frequently.

From 1981 to 1983 he directed the Foundation for the Community of Artists in New York.

In 1983 West End Press published Columbus Day, a book of his poems.

In 1987, Durham moved to Cuernavaca, Mexico.

During his time in Mexico, Durham exhibited widely, including at the Whitney Biennial, documenta IX, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London; Exit Art, the Museum of Modern Art, Antwerp; and the Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels.

He also published a number of essays in periodicals, including Art Forum, Art Journal (CAA), and Third Text.

His poetry was included in Harper's Anthology of 20th Century Native American Poetry (1988).

In 1993, a collection of his essays, A Certain Lack of Coherence, was published by Kala Press.

After several years in Mexico, Durham moved to Europe in 1994, initially relocating to Berlin and then Naples.

Thereafter, he focused primarily on the relationship between architecture, monumentality, and national narratives.

His anti-architectural sculptures, performances, and videos seek to liberate architecture's privileged material, stone, from its metaphorical associations with monumentality, stability and permanence.

His exhibitions in Europe have included venues such as the Kunstverein in Hamburg, FRAC in Reims, Haus Wittgenstein in Vienna, Kunstverein München, and the Venice Biennale, among many others.

Durham also received the Günther-Peill-Preis (2003), the Foundation for Contemporary Arts Robert Rauschenberg Award (2017), and the 58th Venice Biennale's Golden Lion for lifetime achievement (2019).

He long claimed to be Cherokee but that claim has been denied by tribal representatives: "Durham is neither enrolled nor eligible for citizenship in any of the three federally-recognized and historical Cherokee Tribes: the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians of Oklahoma, and the Cherokee Nation."

He had "no known ties to any Cherokee community".

He participated in A Grain of Dust A Drop of Water: The 5th Gwangju Biennale in 2004.

In 2005 Durham co-curated with Richard William Hill The American West, an attack on cowboy and Indian mythology, at Compton Verney, United Kingdom.

In 2006 he also had various works displayed at the Serralves Foundation, in Porto, Portugal.

In 2009, a permanent public art piece by Durham, Serpentine rouge, was installed in Indre, France, along the Loire River.

In 2010 Durham presented his Rocks Encouraged in the Portikus exhibition hall in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

In 2016 he was awarded the Goslarer Kaiserring.