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Nicholas Galanin is one of the most vital voices in contemporary art. Born in Sheet'ka (Sitka, Alaska), Galanin is Tlingit and Unangax^; he creates from his perspective as an Indigenous man. His work calls for an accounting of the damages done to land and life by unfettered capitalism while envisioning and advocating alternate possibilities. For the 2020 Biennale of Sydney, he excavated the shape of the shadow cast by the monumental statue of Captain James Cook, a call for the burial of monuments to violent histories, which ArtNEWS and Artsy called a defining work of 2020. Land Swipe-a painted deer hide that depicts the NYC subway map, marked with selected sites of police violence against Black youth-was called one of Inchthe most important art moments in 2020Inch by The New York Times. His work spans sculpture, video, installation, photography, jewelry and music; advocating Indigenous sovereignty, racial, social and environmental justice, for present, and future generations. His debut as Ya Tseen (Inchbe alive,Inch and a reference to his Tlingit name Yeil Ya Tseen) is Indian Yard, his first album for Sub Pop. Rich with emotional range and sharp awareness, Indian Yard explores love, desire, frustration, pain, revolution, and connection through the magnetic expressions of an Indigenous mind. These 11 tracks put Galanin, Ya Tseen, and Indigenous art at large in a current musical conversation with the likes of Moses Sumney and TV on the Radio, FKA Twigs and James Blake. Indian Yard is a profound record of liberation and an implicit act of protest, making it's case by facing the intersection of past, present, and future realities. In a nod to Sun Ra, InchGently To The SunInch mentions Inchmeds for a nightmareInch-an apt description for a record that offers a much-needed antidote for what now ails us personally and universally. This is not, by any means, Galanin's first al
