Winnebago with Native American standing on top and luggage strapped to the top with a pink baground.

An exhibit by Henry Payer, a Ho Chunk artist enrolled in the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska 

Henry Payer’s collage paintings reincorporate traditional objects, forms, and motifs using contemporary methods and techniques, and through his art, he challenges the Ho Chunk’s pervasive American identity and interprets the modern Ho Chunk experience. His exhibit titled “Neutral Ground” will be on display August 26 – October 6, 2024, and gallery hours are Monday through Friday from 11am-4pm and Sunday from 1-4pm. 

Payer will be giving a lecture on Thursday, September 19 at 6pm in Room 2630 titled “Historical Narratives from a Ho Chunk Perspective”. A reception will follow in the Memorial Union Art Gallery. Both events are free and open to the public.

In his artist’s statement Henry explains, “I make collage paintings with the intent to create a contemporary aesthetic that reflects, revitalizes and reintegrates Ho Chunk visual art forms and stories. My process involved traveling to places of our historical removal, where I sought out access to documents, maps, photographs and cultural objects acquired by museums to research the visual forms and language of our material arts. This influenced my work by connecting to both our relationship to the land by relocation and our acquired traditional art forms. This exploration allows the artwork to speak on issues of land, identity, and our visual culture by combining historic accounts, maps, and photographs with literary concepts, art history, and personal experiences. 

While I have been fortunate to interact with traditional culture properties, I am committed to this lifelong accession of knowledge in an effort to develop artworks grounded in concepts specific to Ho Chunk aesthetics, stories, and lifeways.”

Payer received a BFA from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, NM in 2008. He was invited to study at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he obtained his MFA in 2013. Payer has exhibited his work throughout the Midwest as well as at the University of Venice Ca’ Voscari, Palazzo Cosulich in Venice, Italy. He spent time as an instructor at the Oscar Howe Summer Art Institute located at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, SD, and in 2021 the artist was awarded a five-year Joan Mitchell Fellowship.

The Memorial Union is located at 2229 Lincoln Way in Ames on the ISU campus, and paid parking is available in the ramp adjacent to the building. The Art Gallery is located on the 1st floor and has free admission.