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Following her solo debut with @tureen.info at Independent 2025, “Credible, Idiot Strings,” an installation by Sonya Kelliher-Combs (@kellihercombs), has been acquired by the Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal (@mbamtl).

The series’ title “Idiot Strings” refers to tethers used to hang mittens. The attached sculptural pockets are roughly hand-sized, suggesting an absent body. The series began as a memorial to three of the artist’s uncles who died by suicide, a cause of death which disproportionately affects Indigenous North Americans. “Credible, Idiot Strings” appropriates geological survey maps of Alaska to acknowledge the 35 recognized abuse claims by Alaska communities against the Catholic Church. The pouches rendered in white symbolize the unrecognized cases, or cases never reported at all.

In February 2027, the @whitneymuseum will open “Sonya Kelliher-Combs: TITIQ/MARK,” a mid-career survey highlighting nearly two decades of the artist’s explorations of history, cultural continuity, self-determination, and land use through her inventive approaches to art-making. The exhibition is the first solo show of a living Indigenous artist in the museum’s history.

#SonyaKelliherCombs #IndependentNewYork taken in Independent by @independent_hq

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Tureen is honored to announce Sonya Kelliher-Combs’ (b. 1969, Iñupiaq and Athabascan) exhibition, TITIQ/MARK, will open at the Whitney Museum of American Art in February 2027.

A historic effort, this is the first mid-career survey of an indigenous artist at The Whitney. The exhibition will feature a career-spanning range of work from her diverse practice, including painting, sculpture, drawing, and installation. Since the 1990’s, Kelliher-Combs has made work expanding the boundaries of materiality while simultaneously honoring the struggle for Alaskan and broader Indigenous self-determination. From the use of traditional materials like marine mammal gut, hide, and bone to their contemporary parallels in polymer or acrylic, her practice seeks to erode the dominant historical divisions between Western and Indigenous cultures in service of a singular vision for artmaking at the edges of humanity’s relationship to nature. In addition to her studio practice, Kelliher-Combs maintains a tireless advocacy for Indigenous communities as a curator, researcher, teacher, and collaborator. She has traveled across the globe sharing her expertise on the use of historically significant, customary materials and championing sovereignty in both intimate and vast political contexts. We look forward to celebrating this singular artistic and cultural vision beginning in New York next year.

Sonya Kelliher-Combs: TITIQ/MARK is co-organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, and the Anchorage Museum. The exhibition is co-curated by Jennie Goldstein, Marion Boulton “Kippy” Stroud Curator of the Collection, Whitney Museum of American Art, and Julie Decker, Director/CEO, Anchorage Museum, with Rose Pallone, Curatorial Assistant, Whitney Museum of American Art. Tureen would also like to thank Laura Phipps, Director of the Gochman Family Collection, for her championing of Kelliher-Combs’ work over the past decade.

@whitneymuseum @kellihercombs @jenniehg @phippslaura

#sonyakellihercombs by @independent_hq

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2 months ago

Hello, I wanted to share something important with you. Bob Hallinen, a talented photographer, is facing unexpected medical challenges that have significantly impacted his family. They now need help with housing costs during this difficult time. Please consider donating or sharing the GoFundMe link to support them. Thank you for your kindness. by @independent_hq

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3 months ago

Nanuq, Mark III by @independent_hq

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7 months ago

by @independent_hq

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7 months ago

We can't wait to Celebrate the Holidays with you!

✨️ Featuring ✨️
🎶 Live Music
🎨 Local Artists: Tidewater Fleece, Sonya Kelliher-Combs, Fire Girl 49 Designs, AnnMarie, and more!

🎁 We'll have in-store exclusive discounts, enter our giveaway for a WFF class gift card, Groovy Grayling Leggings, and our new Fishe puzzle!

Get ready to Jingle & Mingle - Please RSVP at the link in our bio if you plan to attend, See you there!

#fishe #womensflyfishing #friendsandfamily #holidayparty by @independent_hq

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10 months ago

Mia Amore. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ by @independent_hq

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10 months ago

Bo. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ by @independent_hq

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10 months ago

Happy and so thankful fo family friends and especially for those working to help others. So thankful. Take care, take care of each other. Love and positive energy. ❤️ by @independent_hq

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10 months ago

Cooper landing 🥰 taken in Cooper Landing, Alaska by @independent_hq

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10 months ago

So happy to be headed to camp for the holiday. Such a beautiful drive ❤️ taken in Kenai, Alaska by @independent_hq

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10 months ago

Congratulations to @kellihercombs on receiving the @awaw.award 2025! 🎉

Sonya Kelliher-Combs was raised in the Northwest Alaska community of Nome. Her work has been shown in numerous individual and group exhibitions in Alaska, the United States and internationally. She offers through her mixed media painting and sculpture a chronicle of the ongoing struggle for self-definition and identity in the Alaskan context.

The monograph about her work „Mark: Sonya Kelliher-Combs“, edited by Julie Decker, is published by Hirmer and Anchorage Art Museum (2024).

#sonyakellihercombs #mark #anonymouswasawoman by @independent_hq

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a year ago