From November 3, 2024, to August 2026, the monumental Building 5 gallery at MASS MoCA will be transformed into a radiant, immersive space for collective imagination, storytelling, and celebration.
Installation view of Jeffrey Gibson: ‘POWER FULL BECAUSE WE’RE DIFFERENT’. Made with MASS MoCA. As installed in ‘POWER FULL BECAUSE WE’RE DIFFERENT’ at MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA (on view beginning November 3, 2024).
Titled ‘POWER FULL BECAUSE WE’RE DIFFERENT’, Jeffrey Gibson’s latest exhibition builds on the momentum of his landmark representation of the United States at the 60th Venice Biennale. It marks a powerful return to MASS MoCA.
A citizen of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and Cherokee descent, Gibson has long been recognised for his multidisciplinary practice that foregrounds the voices and visions of queer and Indigenous communities. His installations, performances, sculptures, and paintings have helped shape a contemporary visual language that is both celebratory and defiant, rooted in deep cultural memory while reaching boldly into the future.
Organised by MASS MoCA’s Chief Curator Denise Markonish, ‘POWER FULL BECAUSE WE’RE DIFFERENT’ is not just a solo exhibition – it is an evolving platform for performance, visibility, and community. More than three dozen Indigenous creatives from across North America will contribute to the project over its 18-month run through music, dance, drag, and video art.
A Ritual Space for Difference and Belonging
At the heart of the exhibition are seven monumental garments, suspended like sacred totems from tipi poles across the length of the gallery. Beaded, embellished, and crafted from found materials, the garments are inspired by ceremonial regalia, particularly those associated with the Ghost Dance. This pacifist spiritual movement emerged in the 19th century among the Northern Paiute. These sculptural garments are as much vessels of memory as they are beacons of futurity: they honour ancestral traditions while resisting the erasure of Indigenous presence and possibility.
Each garment is paired with its 12×12-foot glass performance stage – vividly coloured and graphically patterned – which visitors can walk around or encounter during live performances. A mirrored, floor-to-ceiling wall runs the length of the space, doubling and refracting the installation into an almost kaleidoscopic experience – a metaphor, perhaps, for the many facets of identity and community being explored.
A Club, A Ceremony, A Gathering
Video plays a critical role in Gibson’s vision. In one half of the gallery, a new multi-channel installation titled Your Spirit Whispers in My Ear (2024), edited by Sancia Miala Shiba Nash with a soundtrack by Patrick Coll, fills the space with music, drag performance, and archival materials. Drawn from contributions by over 20 Indigenous two-spirit individuals, DJs, artists and activists, the videos form a visual and sonic tapestry – part club, part communal ritual – that underscores the vibrancy and resistance embedded in queer Indigenous life.
The exhibition also features the 1991 documentary “Two Spirit People,” offering historical context and lived testimonies from Indigenous individuals who embrace the “two-spirit” identity – a term that defies binary gender definitions and weaves together sexuality, spirituality, and cultural traditions. The presence of this film within the installation offers a grounding historical anchor and a space for reflection, education, and honouring.
Embodied Performance and Leigh Bowery’s Influence
One of the exhibition’s most intimate spaces is located in the lower mezzanine gallery, where a new two-channel video captures Gibson himself wearing all seven garments. In these tender, performative vignettes, Gibson is both present and self-reflective, mirroring the legacy of legendary performance artist Leigh Bowery – particularly his 1988 work at the Anthony D’Offay Gallery in London, where he dressed in extravagant costumes behind a one-way mirror. Here, Gibson explores questions of visibility, performance, and self-perception in a similar spirit, inviting viewers to consider the vulnerability and power of being seen.
Upstairs, a rotating resource room curated with Antonia Oliver at Gibson’s studio offers more profound insight into the exhibition’s conceptual and collaborative framework. This space will unfold over three iterations throughout the exhibition’s run, beginning with a focus on contributions from two-spirit creatives – costumes, texts, videos and more – that have helped shape the show.
A Community of Collaborators
True to Gibson’s ethos of collaboration, the exhibition gathers an extraordinary constellation of artists, musicians, performers, and thinkers. Performers such as Laura Ortman, Emily Johnson, Martha Redbone, Divide and Dissolve, Arielle Twist, and Raven Chacon will animate the gallery with live events, while a rich cast of video contributors – including Ty Fierce, Joseph Pierce, Lady Shug, Beejee, Dan Taulapapa McMullin, and many others – extend the show’s reach far beyond the physical walls of the museum.
MASS MoCA will host a special preview day on November 2, beginning with a conversation between Gibson and two-spirit elder and activist Albert McLeod, followed by an in-gallery performance by Takiaya Reed (Divide and Dissolve) and a closing set by a soon-to-be-announced guest artist selected by Gibson himself.
Art as a Living Structure
‘POWER FULL BECAUSE WE’RE DIFFERENT’ does not offer easy definitions. Instead, it becomes a living structure – one that is celebratory, reflective, and ungovernable by the rules of the dominant culture. Gibson’s work has always asked us to think beyond the frame, beyond the expected, and to reconsider what constitutes a monument, a stage, a garment, or a gallery.
As MASS MoCA continues its 25th anniversary celebrations, this exhibition stands as a testament to the institution’s commitment to creating space for radical creativity, cultural specificity, and collective healing.
For Gibson, it’s also an invitation. “This is not a solo,” the artist seems to say. “This is a circle. Come stand in it.”
The exhibition will be on view from November 3 2024, until August 2026. For more information, please visit MASS MoCA.
