As Part of Clemency Campaign, Installation of 9-Foot-Tall Statue of American Indian Leonard Peltier at American University Museum Raises Awareness and Engagement Around Peltier’s Plight
Media Contact: Rebecca Basu, American University Communications, basu@american.edu or 202-885-5950
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Dec. 1, 2016) — As part of a major clemency push by supporters in the final days of President Barack Obama’s presidency, a 9-foot-tall statue of American Indian Leonard Peltier will be installed at American University Museum to raise awareness for Peltier’s plight and the pardon request. Peltier, convicted and sentenced in the shooting of two Federal Bureau of Investigation agents in 1977, has maintained his innocence in the 41 years he’s been imprisoned, and his conviction has been contested by leading human rights organizations in the United States and beyond.
The statue, by California-based artist Rigo 23, will be placed on the museum lawn overlooking Massachusetts Avenue. It will be on display for an unspecified amount of time. A public dedication and unveiling of the statue will take place at 2:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 9 at the museum. The ceremony will be attended by the statue’s artist, Rigo 23; Oglala Sioux Vice Chairman Tom Poor Bear; Piscataway Chief Billy Red Wing Tayac; and former Angola 3 political prisoner Robert King, among others.
The Peltier statue is comprised of redwood, foam, epoxy, and paint, and is supported on an internal steel structure. It is designed to be mobile and dissembled in parts for easy transport and exhibition. The project is funded by Peltier supporters and community members, as well as the organization American Indian Movement West.
Supporters believe that Peltier was wrongfully convicted. Peltier has been designated a political prisoner by Amnesty International. Over 50 Members of Congress and others—including Judge Gerald Heaney (8th Circuit Court of Appeals) who sat as a member of the court in two of Peltier’s appeals—have all called for his immediate release. Appellate courts have repeatedly acknowledged evidence of government misconduct in the Peltier case—including knowingly presenting false statements to a Canadian court to extradite Peltier to the U.S., and forcing witnesses to lie at trial.
More about public events surrounding the clemency campaign for Leonard Peltier, called “Human Rights Week 2016,” can be found at: http://www.whoisleonardpeltier.info/ or http://www.whoisleonardpeltier.info/home/events/2016-human-rights-week/
Images from the statue’s journey from California to Washington, D.C., including a stop at Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota, can be found here: www.instagram.com/peltierstatue/
About Rigo 23:
Rigo 23 is a long-time activist for and collaborator with native communities. This project follows an earlier work from 2011 honoring Peltier, titled The Tate WikikuwaMuseum: North America 2024 and exhibited at Syracuse University Art Gallery. The three-decade long career artist has created work of this size and scale on multiple continents, including San Jose State University’s Victory Stand, a living statue dedicated to Olympian John Carlos and Tommie Smith’s Black Power Salute, which is activated regularly by student activists on campus and in the community.
Museum Information, Hours and Location:
The American University Museum is a three-story public museum and sculpture garden located within the university’s Katzen Arts Center. The region’s largest university facility for exhibiting art, the museum has a permanent collection that highlights the donors’ holdings and AU’s Watkins Collection and Rothfeld Collection. Rotating exhibitions emphasize regional, national, and international contemporary art.
The Katzen Museum Store is open during museum hours plus one hour before select special events. Visitors may purchase books, catalogs, and prints related to past and current exhibitions, as well as fine crafts and other one-of-a-kind objects by predominantly local artisans.
The Katzen Arts Center, named for Washington-area benefactors Dr. and Mrs. Cyrus Katzen, brings all the visual and performing arts programs at AU into one space. Designed to foster interdisciplinary collaboration in the arts, the Katzen includes the museum, the Abramson Family Recital Hall, the Studio Theatre, a dance studio, an electronics studio, artists’ studios, rehearsal space, and classrooms.
The American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. Admission is free. For more information, call 202-885-1300 or look on the Web at www.american.edu/cas/museum. Follow the museum on Facebook (facebook.com/AmericanUniversityMuseum), on Twitter (@AUMuseum_Katzen), or on Instagram (AUMuseum_katzen).