Mekko Harjo

Mekko Harjo (b. 1987, Los Angeles, CA) attended Bard College, receiving his BA in photography, and recently received an MFA in Studio Arts from the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Sante Fe, NM. After 10+ years as a documentary and fashion photographer, he shifted focus to ceramic sculpture and digital media. His practice is a reflection of an ongoing reconciliation of his personal history with his ancestral heritage. Mekko is Shawnee, Muscogee, Seminole, Jewish and an enrolled member of the Quapaw Tribe of Oklahoma. He lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.

Mekko Harjo’s work weaves personal narrative into expansive considerations of Indigenous resurgence. With his research driven output, Harjo examines subcultures, small histories and anti-capitalist temporalities across a range of ephemeral and physical mediums. Inspired by the misuse and appropriation of consumer technology, the artist collages elements of installation art, spoken-word performance, and familial exposé into conceptually intricate renderings. Harjo’s practice promotes a discourse on the role of individual agency in navigating the shifting perimeters of Indigenous identity under late-capitalism.