You Are This Universe April 21 - May 25, 2025
You Are This Universe draws inspiration from the wisdom of Muscogee musician, poet, and author Joy Harjo.
This latest exhibition from CouperRuss explores themes of strength through community, our connection to nature, and the value of diverse voices. It challenges the assumption that true power is rooted in coercion or force, instead redefining strength as a balance of empathy, collaboration, and dedication to collective wellbeing.
The exhibition brings together works from the CouperRuss collection alongside contemporary artists, primarily based in Las Vegas, sparking a cross-cultural, intergenerational dialogue.
Bek Coogan (Aotearoa/New Zealand) employs multiple mediums in her practice, often using her comic-book-style persona ‘Sheville’ to explore themes of female utopia. In a similar vein, Alexys Quezada (Las Vegas) populates her work with emotionally-charged figures and symbolic animals, often drawing from their environment, politics and diasporic consciousness.
Georganne Deen (California) incorporates spiritual symbols in 'I Am You & You Are Me', where a female figure is intertwined with a two-headed snake. Echoing this motif, Clarice T Cuda (Las Vegas) explores themes of feminine power and creative energy in 'Medusa's Egg', featuring a coiled, serpentine form.
A collaborative piece by poet Erica Vital-Lazare and visual artist JK Russ, originally created for the Seeing><Saying project at the Nevada Humanities Program Gallery (2018), examines the energy needed to set the world right. This limited-edition work, printed by Test Site Projects, highlights the intersection of text and image. Continuing this interplay, Elizabeth Allen Berry—a poet, musician, artist, and advocate for cosmic self-love—shifts narratives around LGBTQ and Trans identities through her multidimensional work.
Hemi Macgregor (Ngāti Rākaipaaka, Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāi Tūhoe), Associate Professor at Massey University’s Whiti o Rehua School of Art (Aotearoa), works across painting, sculpture, and installation. His practice centers Indigenous perspectives and collaboration. Fawn Douglas, a Native American artist, activist, and enrolled member of the Las Vegas Paiute Tribe, fuses contemporary materials with traditional Indigenous practices—bridging art, education, and community.
Bronwynne Cornish (Aotearoa) has worked with clay for decades, acknowledging its historical and symbolic significance as both foundation and form. Similarly, Krystal Ramirez (Las Vegas) references the physicality of labor, incorporating the language of vintage Las Vegas breeze blocks combined with the city’s iconic neon.
From a vibrant community arts hub in Aotearoa, Daniel Phillips has developed a loyal following over two decades. His colorful oil pastels radiate positive energy and invite active emotional engagement. Christina Flores-Escobar, drawing on her Mexican, Puerto Rican, Native American, and Black American heritage, creates powerfully symbolic works rooted in sacred storytelling and spiritual resonance.
Forest V Kapo (Te Āti Awa, Ngāti Raukawa)— interdisciplinary artist and choreographer—collaborated with JK Russ in Las Vegas during a 2016 First Friday event. Recently working under Two Little Aliens, Kapo’s projects have explored trans identity and the fluid movement between lands and cultural spaces.
Remember
Remember the sky that you were born under,
know each of the star’s stories.
Remember the moon, know who she is.
Remember the sun’s birth at dawn, that is the
strongest point of time. Remember sundown
and the giving away to night.
Remember your birth, how your mother struggled
to give you form and breath. You are evidence of
her life, and her mother’s, and hers.
Remember your father. He is your life, also.
Remember the earth whose skin you are:
red earth, black earth, yellow earth, white earth
brown earth, we are earth.
Remember the plants, trees, animal life who all have their
tribes, their families, their histories, too. Talk to them,
listen to them. They are alive poems.
Remember the wind. Remember her voice. She knows the
origin of this universe.
Remember you are all people and all people
are you.
Remember you are this universe and this
universe is you.
Remember all is in motion, is growing, is you.
Remember language comes from this.
know each of the star’s stories.
Remember the moon, know who she is.
Remember the sun’s birth at dawn, that is the
strongest point of time. Remember sundown
and the giving away to night.
Remember your birth, how your mother struggled
to give you form and breath. You are evidence of
her life, and her mother’s, and hers.
Remember your father. He is your life, also.
Remember the earth whose skin you are:
red earth, black earth, yellow earth, white earth
brown earth, we are earth.
Remember the plants, trees, animal life who all have their
tribes, their families, their histories, too. Talk to them,
listen to them. They are alive poems.
Remember the wind. Remember her voice. She knows the
origin of this universe.
Remember you are all people and all people
are you.
Remember you are this universe and this
universe is you.
Remember all is in motion, is growing, is you.
Remember language comes from this.
- Joy Harjo
