Raven Chacon | |
|---|---|
 Chacon speaking at Columbia University in 2022 | |
| Born | 1977 (age 48–49) Fort Defiance, Arizona, United States |
| Citizenship | Navajo Nation and U.S. |
| Education | California Institute of the ArtsUniversity of New Mexico |
| Known for | sound art, non-vocal instrumentalist,installation art, composer, musician, visual artist |
| Style | noise music, experimental sound, composer, musician, visual artist |
| Awards | MacArthur Fellowship 2023Pulitzer Prize 2022 |
| Website | spiderwebsinthesky |
Raven Chacon (born 1977) is aDinécomposer, musician, and artist. Born inFort Defiance, Arizona within theNavajo Nation, Chacon became the firstNative American to win aPulitzer Prize for Music, for hisVoiceless Mass in 2022.
He has also been a solo performer ofnoise music and worked with groups such asPostcommodity.[1]
.jpg)
Raven Chacon was born in 1977 inFort Defiance, Arizona, within theNavajo Nation.[2] He attended theUniversity of New Mexico, where he obtained his BA in Fine Arts in 2001, then received an MFA in music composition from theCalifornia Institute of the Arts in 2004.[3][4] He was a student ofJames Tenney,Morton Subotnick,Michael Pisaro,Wadada Leo Smith and Christopher Shultis.
Chacon's visual and sonic artwork has been exhibited widely in the U.S. and abroad.[5] His room-sized sound and text installation,Still Life, #3 (2015), was exhibited in theTransformer: Native Art in Light and Sound exhibition at theNational Museum of the American Indian, New York.[6][7] His collective and solo work has been presented atSydney Biennale,[8]Kennedy Center, theWhitney Biennial,[9]documenta 14,[10]Adelaide International,Vancouver Art Gallery,ASU Art Museum,Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, the San Francisco Electronic Music Festival,[11] theHeard Museum,[12]Chaco Canyon, andPerformance Today.[13]
Chacon also performs in the groups KILT with Bob Bellerue, Mesa Ritual with William Fowler Collins, Endlings with John Dieterich, and collaborations withLaura Ortman andIgor Cavalera. In 2016, he was commissioned byKronos Quartet to compose a work for theirFifty For The Future project.[14]
Chacon serves as Composer-in-Residence with theNative American Composers Apprenticeship Project.[15] In 2012, he was awarded aCreative Capital[16] Visual Arts grant. In 2014, he was honored with aNative Arts and Cultures Foundation National Artist Fellowship in Music.[17] In 2018, Chacon was awarded theBerlin Prize by theAmerican Academy in Berlin.[18]
In 2022, Chacon became the first Native American to win thePulitzer Prize for Music, which he received for his compositionVoiceless Mass.[19]
One of Chacon's well-known music piece,Voiceless Mass,[19] won a Pulitzer Prize for Music. Being the first Native American to win a Pulitzer Prize, this piece was commissioned by WI Conference of the United Church of Christ, Plymouth Church UCC andPresent Music.[20] At first, he turned down the offer but soon reconsidered after realizing the space the music would be performed at.[1] The themes that surround theVoiceless Mass was constructed carefully but intentionally with the performance being held at a Catholic Church where in previous years had mistreated and silenced them.[21] Chacon has underlining themes of Indigenous culture as well as history that relates to the United States to further enhance his work.[22]
Aside from being a composer, he's also known for creating works of art, a prominent example would theStorm Pattern.[23] This piece carriesNavajo weaving style while incorporating different symbols such as lightening bolts, arrows, digital audio. Chacon combines different elements like flying drones and the sounds of transmission from broadcast in his area.
Chacon was a member of the Native American art collective,Postcommodity, with whom he has developed multimedia installations which have been exhibited internationally.[9] Other members includeCristóbal Martínez,Kade L. Twist,Steven Yazzie and Nathan Young.[9] In 2017, as part of Postcommodity, Chacon created the multimedia project,...in memoriam, in Edmonton in 2017, curated byOciciwan Contemporary Art Collective.[24]
Chacon lives inAlbuquerque, New Mexico, and is married toCandice Hopkins, aTagish curator. His sisterNani Chacon is a muralist.
Chacon has received numerous awards and honors for his work, including the 2022Pulitzer Prize for Music, anAmerican Academy in Berlin Prize (music composition), aCreative Capital award (visual arts), aUnited States Artists fellowship (music), aJoan Mitchell Foundation fellowship,[18] aNative Arts and Cultures Foundation artist fellowship,[25] among others.[5] Chacon received the inauguralMellon Foundation Artist-in-Residence fellowship for theColorado Springs Fine Arts Center atColorado College.[26] In October 2023, Chacon was named aMacArthur Fellow.[27]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| Other | |
