Acclaimed Artist Sky Hopinka Exhibtion

Acclaimed artist Sky Hopinka, a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin and a descendent of the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians, is a filmmaker, photographer, and poet creating works heavily informed by his indigenous heritage. In this exhibition, language is a central of Hopinka’s photography and experimental filmmaking, blurring distinctions between cinema and poetry. Hopinka layers imagery, sound, and text to create an innovative visual language.

Join us Friday, Oct 2 for Photography, Poetry and Film Exhibition from this impactful artist: 5:30pm-7:30pm in the Kooyumjian Gallery. Sky Hopinka will be in attendance at this reception event- don't miss the change to meet this internationally acclaimed artist.

Sky Hopinka: Languages an exhibition of Photography, Poetry and Film will be on view Oct 2 - November 17, 2026.

Join us for Photography, Poetry and Film Exhibition from this impactful artist: 5:30pm-7:30pm Poetry Reading and Exhibition Reception in conjunction with the David Clewell Visiting Writers Series and the Kooyumjian Gallery.

Sky Hopinka (Ho-Chunk Nation/Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians) was born and raised in Ferndale, Washington and spent a number of years in California, Oregon and Wisconsin. In Portland he studied and taught chinuk wawa, a language indigenous to the Lower Columbia River Basin. His video, photo and text work centers around personal positions of Indigenous homeland and landscape, designs of language as containers of culture expressed through personal, documentary and nonfiction forms of media. His work has played at various festivals including Sundance, Toronto International Film Festival and the New York Film Festival. He was a Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University fellow, Sundance Art of Nonfiction Fellow, Art Matters Fellow, Guggenheim Fellow, Forge Project Fellow and MacArther Fellow. He received the Alpert Award for Film/Video and the Infinity Award in Art from the International Center of Photography.

Thank you to the Missouri Arts Council for financial assistance for this project.

Also a campus after this reception on October 2, the Webster University Film Series is hosting a screening of "Powwow People" with Sky Hopinka in Winnifred Moore Auditorium at 7:30pm-9pm. Please note: the film screening is a ticketed event, all other Sky Hopinka Events are free.