Jeffrey Gibson is an artist whose work exists in the space between history and the future, drawing us into conversations about identity, survival, and connection. With The Animal That Therefore I Am, the second Genesis Facade Commission at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gibson brings four towering bronze animals to the museum’s Fifth Avenue entrance, where they will stand watch through June 9, 2026.
Each sculpture is nearly three meters tall and represents a deer, a coyote, a squirrel, and a hawk. These aren’t just animals. They are relations, beings that share space with us in both the Hudson Valley, where Gibson works, and Central Park, the urban forest that surrounds The Met. Cast in bronze with textures that evoke wood, beads, and cloth, their surfaces carry the memory of Indigenous beadwork and textiles. The animals hold the weight of resilience, embodying how life adapts and endures in a world reshaped by human hands.
The title draws from Jacques Derrida’s book The Animal That Therefore I Am, but Gibson transforms the philosopher’s meditation into something tactile and visual. His sculptures prompt us to examine closely how animals coexist with us, what they teach us, and what it means to share a world where survival is never guaranteed.
For Gibson, a citizen of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and of Cherokee descent, this installation is also about presence. Too often, Indigenous art is boxed into museum cases, treated like a relic. Here, it claims space in one of the most visible cultural institutions in the world, not as nostalgia or artifact, but as a tribute to living Indigenous creativity carved into bronze and set at the heart of New York City.
This exhibit is Gibson’s first major project in bronze at this scale, and the choice feels intentional. Bronze has long been the material of empire and authority, used to cast monuments that erase as much as they honor. By reimagining it with Indigenous patterns and aesthetics, Gibson flips that history. These works are not monuments to conquest but to coexistence, to the endurance of Indigenous presence, and to the voices of beings often overlooked.
The Genesis Facade Commission is a relatively new tradition, launched in 2024, that allows contemporary artists to transform The Met’s facade. Following Lee Bul, Jeffrey Gibson brings a different perspective. His work raises questions that challenge the institution itself and asserts that Indigenous art belongs at the center, not on the margins.
Walking up Fifth Avenue, these figures demand attention. They return your gaze as much as you take theirs, prompting reflection on what it means to be part of an ecosystem we have both built and broken.
Gibson’s art serves as witness, teacher, and companion in survival. These animals do not stand as relics of the past. They are living proof that Indigenous art, culture, and presence continue to shape both the present and the future.
Exhibition Dates: September 12, 2025–June 9, 2026
Location: The Met Fifth Avenue, Fifth Avenue Facade
Discover more from Red Pop! News
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
