Sarah Biscarra Dilley, qšišimuʔ, video collage (still), 5:51 (looping), 2018-2020.
experience + affiliations
2023-present: Director of Indigenous Programs and Relationality - Forge Project
2021-2023: member - University of California Systemwide NAGPRA Implementation and Oversight Committee
2020-2022: lecturer – San Francisco State University – American Indian Studies Department
2020-present: California Indian Studies and Scholars Association
2019-present: member – Native American Advisory Board - Santa Barbara Natural History Museum
2018-present: member – yak titʸu titʸu yak tiłhini Northern Chumash Tribe Language Core Team
2017-2020: associate instructor – University of California, Davis – Native American Studies Department
2017-present: American Association of Geographers
2014-present: Native American and Indigenous Studies Association
2013-2016: consultant – California Consortium for Urban Indian Health
curation + collaboration
2022: contributor – Raven Chacon’s Tremble Staves - T. Elliot Weier Redwood Grove / Unratified Treaty “J” Region, University of California, Davis
2021: guest librarian - Potu faitautusi: Faiāʻoga o gagana e, ia uluulumamau! Be Courageous, Language Teachers! Reading Room, Columbus Printed Arts Center, Columbus, OH.
2021: consultant + contributor - “Making [...] Possible in a ‘New’ and ‘Empty’ Land: on panel five of Diego Rivera’s Pan-American Unity (1940),” audio project on Diego Rivera’s Pan-American Unity (1940), part of programming for Diego Rivera’s America exhibition, SFMOMA Spring 2021.
2021: design commission for logo for UC Berkeley Designated Emphasis in Indigenous Language Revitalization, made with consultation from Vincent Medina (Chochenyo Ohlone) and Louis Trevino (Rumsen Ohlone).
2019: co-facilitator - yak titʸu titʸu yak tiłhini Northern Chumash Tribe of San Luis Obispo County and Region meeting with National Anthropological Archives on appropriate use and cultural protocols regarding J.P. Harrington Archives (towards a shared stewardship partnership), unceded yak titʸu titʸu yak tiłhini homelands.
2018-2020: visiting curator - part of Indigenous curatorial consortium Transits and Returns, at the Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver B.C., unceded Skwxwú7mesh, xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ territories, September 28, 2019 –February 23, 2020.
2018-2019: visiting curator, part of Indigenous curatorial consortium Transits and Returns, for Layover – Artspace, Tāmaki Makarau, Auckland, NZ, on display March – April 2019.
2017-present: tribal consultant - yakʔitʸutʸu housing project, California Polytechnic University, tiłhini (San Luis Obispo, CA), unceded yak titʸu titʸu yak tiłhini homeland.
2017-2018: visiting curator – part of Indigenous curatorial consortium Transits and Returns, for The Commute, Institute of Modern Art (IMA), on display September 22 - December 22, 2018, Brisbane, QLD, Australia, unceded Turrbal and Jaggera country.
2015-2016: co-curator - Visions Into Infinite Archives – SOMArts Cultural Center, Yelamu (SF, CA).
publications
Sarah Biscarra Dilley. "These masks are danced together. They share a dance." The Clam’s Kiss | Sogi a le faisua (University of Queensland Art Museum, Blue Assembly Initiative, 2022 -2024).
--- with Joseph M. Pierce, "Episode 49: How do you start to tell the story of who you are in a language where you're just trying to figure this all out?", on Allotment Stories: Indigenous Land Relations under Settler Siege (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2022).
---. “tʸiptukɨłhɨ wa tʸiptutʸɨʔnɨ, where are you from and where are you going? patterns, parcels, and place nitspu tiłhin ktityutityu,” Allotment Stories: Indigenous Land Relations under Settler Siege, edited by Jean M. O’Brien and Daniel Heath Justice (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2022).
---. with A-dae Briones Romero and Hillary Renick, COVID-19 in Indian Country: A Call to Integrate Food Systems and Food Security Toward Sovereignty (Longmont: First Nations Development Institute, 2021).
---. editorial art commission for “Seeing America’s Wilderness for What It Is,” The Atlantic (Boston: The Atlantic Monthly Group, 2021).
---. “Breath of Life,” News From Native California Volume 34, Issue 3 (Berkeley: Heyday Books, 2021).
---. “When I Remember I See Red: American Indian Art and Activism in California Edited by Frank LaPena and Mark Dean Johnson, with Kristina Perea Gilmore, Associate Editor,” NAISA Journal 8.1 (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press).
---. editorial art commission for “Socially Distanced Powwows” by Julian Brave Noisecat, California Sunday Magazine, July 2020 (San Francisco: Pop-Up Magazine Productions, 2020).
---. “qšiqšimu, many stars, many shells,” Artlink 40:2: Kinship Constellations, edited by Léuli Eshrāghi and Kimberley Moulton (Adelaide: Artlink Australia, 2020).
---. interview and images for “Reflecting the Creative Spirit,” by Julian Lang, When I Remember I See Red: American Indian Art and Activism in California (Oakland: University of California Press, 2019).
---. Transits and Returns, co-written with Freja Carmichael, Tarah Hogue, Lana Lopesi, and Léuli Eshraghi (Vancouver: Vancouver Art Gallery Press, 2019).
---. “Performance, Process, Place: On Defiant Indigeneity: The Politics of Hawaiian Performance by Stephanie N. Teves (2018),” H-Net Reviews, H-AmIndian (East Lansing: H-Net, 2019).
---, Weston Teruya. “Episode 27: Sarah Biscarra Dilley,” (un)making (San Francisco: Art Practical, 2018).
---, Vincent Medina. “Intergenerational Strength,” News From Native California Vol. 30, No. 1 (Berkeley: Heyday Books, 2016).
---. Indira Allegra. “Indira Allegra: In Conversations with Sarah Biscarra Dilley,” AQ 5 / NYAQ 4/ SFAQ 24 (San Francisco: Art Quarterly, 2015).
selected exhibitions
2023: exhibiting artist – Inherent Memory – Museum of Contemporary Native Art [MoCNA], Santa Fe, NM
2021-2022: Red Embers public art installation at Allan Gardens, Tkaronto (ON, Canada), Treaty 13.
2021: @Creation, June 14 through July 23, Idyllwild Arts, Idyllwild, CA.
2021: Multiple Horizons: Tribal Perspectives From the Confluence, Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA.
2020: O le ūa na fua mai Manuʻa, UNSW Galleries, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, Gadigal and Bidjigal homelands, Eora Nation.
2020: INTERTWINED, Lolmĕn Gallery, Shingle Springs Rancheria, Placerville, CA, unceded Nisenan homelands.
2019 - 2020: INTERTWINED, Sierra Arts Foundation Gallery, Reno, Nevada, unceded Washoe homelands.
2019: Red Embers public art installation at Allan Gardens, Tkaronto (ON, Canada), Treaty 13.
2019: Out of Tradition: Sacred & Profane –de Saisset Museum – Tamien (Santa Clara, CA).
2018: The Ethical Etherealness of F*ck and Love, La Galerie Centrale Powerhouse - Tiohtià:ke; Moniyang (Montreal, QC, Canada).
2018: Contemporary Prints: A Selection from the Museum Collection - C.N. Gorman Museum (Davis, CA).
2017: performance (with Black Salt Collective) - Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Yelamu (SF, CA).
2016 –2017: river from now to nowhere - Gallery of California Art, Oakland Museum of California, xučyun (CA).
2016 – 2017: Protest and Prayer – C.N. Gorman Museum (Davis, CA), unceded Patwin homelands.
2016 - 2017: INTERWOVEN - Maidu Museum and Historic Site (Roseville, CA).
2016: she covered me in flowers – Krowswork Gallery, xučyun (Oakland, CA).
2016: Visions Into Infinite Archives – SOMArts Cultural Center, Yelamu (SF, CA).
2015: Black Salt Collective Film Screenings (ANCIENT FUTURE: experimental films at FLAB Intersectional Feminist Festival, Copenhagen DE; Qouleur Festival, Tiohtià:ke; Moniyang (Montreal QC); Imperfectu, Tijuana, MX)
2015: Not the Ghost of a Chance – Counterpulse, Yelamu (SF, CA).
2014: Black Salt: The Initiation - San Francisco Public Library, Yelamu (SF, CA).
2012: Emnwaangosjig/Coming Out: The Shifting and Multiple Self - Toronto Free Gallery, Tkaronto (ON), Treaty 13.
2011: Take Root - National Queer Arts Festival (NQAF)- Luggage Store Annex, Yelamu (SF, CA).
2010: Chronotopia - National Queer Arts Festival (NQAF)- SOMArts Cultural Center Yelamu (SF, CA).
presentations + lectures
2023: keynote speaker (alongside Candice Hopkins) - Native American Art Studies Association 2023 conference - Kjipuktuk [Halifax, NS].
2022: presenter - Rewriting the “Rules” of Stewardship - Connecting Communities and Collections: Asian American and Pacific Islander Cultural Stewardship, co-organized by Smithsonian Institution and the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, presented in partnership with the Japanese American National Museum and Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.
2022: keynote speaker – Bren School Environmental Justice Symposium – UC Santa Barbara (heloʔ)
2022: guest lecturer – Indigenous Queer Expressions - University of New Mexico
2021: panelist – “Live Futures: KIN-SHIP-MATTER,” moderated by Léuli Eshrāghi with Amrita Hepi and Tanya Lukin Linklater, part of Liveworks Festival of Experimental Art, Sydney, Australia, Gadigal and Bidjigal homelands, Eora Nation
2021: presenter – “Beyond Metaphor: Reading Decolonization is not a Metaphor in California Contexts,” workshop with Sogorea Te’ Land Trust.
2021: presenter – “yatspułhitsʔišaʔ [world-place it is in continuous motion]: mapping movement, protocol, and place” – with Deborah Morillo - Workshop on American Indian Languages (WAIL) 2021 conference.
2021: facilitator- "yakʔisistʸono tsʔišaʔ, our families, they are in continuous motion: Kanaka ʻŌiwi and yak titʸu titʸu kinships in shifting times," genealogy workshop with Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians tribal members.
2021: panelist - “Traditional Ecological Knowledge(s) not Extracted Knowledge: California Indigenous Perspectives on Ethics, Occupation, and Land Management,” alongside Deborah Morillo, Leah Mata, Breanna Vasquez and Rebecca Tortes with First Nations Development Institute - Ecological Farming Association Workshop
2020: artist talk – In Conversation: Léuli Eshrāghi, Angela Tiatia, Sarah Biscarra Dilley – part of Wansolwara: One Salt Water – UNSW Galleries, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, Gadigal and Bidjigal homelands, Eora Nation.
2019: artist talk – Contemporary Indigenous Arts Showcase alongside Tanya Lukin Linklater, Alan Pelaez Lopez and Beth Piatote for Indigenous Peoples’ Day/UNESCO International Year of Indigenous Languages – Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, xučyun [Berkeley, CA].
2019: panelist - Breath of Life, moderated by Quirina Luna-Geary and Deborah Morillo, part of Language of Life Gathering, sponsored by Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival, unceded Mono homelands.
2019: moderator - Working With and From Within Community, featuring panelists: Taloi Havini, Sarah Hunt, Jaymyn La Vallee, Carol McGregor, Faith Sparrow, part of Great Ocean Dialogues, co-sponsored by the Aboriginal Curatorial Collective / Collectif des commissaires autochtones, SFU Galleries and the Vancouver Art Gallery – 2019
2019: co-organizer and presenter - Layover Non-Symposium, curated by Transits and Returns, Artspace, Tāmaki Makarau, Auckland, Aotearoa NZ.
2018: scholar-participant – Breath of Life: Archival Institute for Indigenous California Languages – hosted by Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival at University of California, Berkeley, xučyun.
2018: panelist - California Indian Environmental Governance: Responsibilities, Rights, and Reclamation - Association of American Geographers (AAG) - New Orleans, LA.
2018: presenter - Meet The Commute – Institute of Modern Art (IMA), Brisbane, QLD, Australia, Turrbal and Jaggera country.
2017: presenter - Dreaming New Patterns, Imagining Ourselves: California Native Women and Resurgence - Maidu Museum and Historic Site, Roseville, CA.
2017: presenter - Readings from Uŋ Indigenous Art Journal - Banff Centre for the Arts and Creativity, AL, Canada, Treaty 7.
2016: lecturer - California Historical Society, Yelamu (SF, CA).
2016: guest lecturer - University of California, heloʔ (Santa Barbara, CA).
2015: presenter - Current Contexts and Future Imaginings: A Two Spirit Roundtable Discussion – Native American and Indigenous Studies Association - Washington D.C.
2013: keynote lecturer (joint with Daniel Heath Justice) - Sexuality Studies Association- Congress 2013 – unceded Songhees, Esquimalt and WSÁNEĆ homelands (Victoria, BC).
awards + residencies
2021-2022: awardee – American Association of University Women (AAUW) American Dissertation Fellowship
2021: awardee - Schwalen Memorial Prize - University of California, Davis
2021: nominee (for solo arts practice) - SECA Art Award + exhibition, SFMOMA
2020: artist in residence - Creatives in Place Residency - Akonadi Foundation
2020: awardee – Graduate Studies Program Fellowship – University of California, Davis
2020: awardee – Critical Mission Studies UC Graduate Student Fellowship – University of California Initiative
2020: waitlisted – Camargo Core Program – Camargo Foundation – Cassis, France
2019: awardee - Bancroft Library Fellowship – University of California, Berkeley
2018: nominee (for solo arts practice) - SECA Art Award + exhibition, SFMOMA
2017-2018: awardee - Davis-Putter Scholarship Fund
2017: artist-in-residence - Art Writer's Tiny Residency - Portland, OR
2017: artist-in-residence - Indigenous Art Journal – Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Treaty 7 (Banff, AL)
2016-2017: awardee - Provost's Fellowship in the Arts and Humanities - University of California, Davis
2016: artist-in-residence - Carrizozo Colony - Carrizozo, NM
2016: artist-in-residence + commission - Facebook A-i-R –Menlo Park, CA
2015: awardee - BA of the Year - San Francisco Art Institute, SF, CA
2012-2015: awardee - Point Scholarship - Point Foundation
education
2019: University of California, Davis - PhD Candidate: Native American Studies
2018: University of California, Davis - MA in Native American Studies
2015: San Francisco Art Institute - BA in Urban Studies
2010-2011: Institute of American Indian Arts – Studio Art and Indigenous Liberal Studies
1986-2012: I. Ojeda Edwards - educated in sovereign humor, cultural knowledges, political and relational genealogy