A Conversation with MacArthur Fellow Sky Hopinka

The MacArthur Foundation just announced its newest class of fellows for 2022. Colloquially known as the MacArthur ‘Geniuses’, each class is meant to include some of the brightest minds across multiple disciplines. This year, the cohort is made up of authors, filmmakers, digital archivists, scientists, scholars and more.

Artist, photographer and filmmaker Sky Hopinka centers Indigenous perspectives in his films, layering abstract sounds, bright imagery and occasionally his own poems. Hopinka’s films are intended to capture the histories and contemporary experiences of Native peoples. His films Anti-Objects, or Space Without Path or Boundary (2017), Mnemonics of Shape and Reason (2021), and maɬni—towards the ocean, towards the shore (2020) all show Hopinka’s use of innovative cinematic language. He also founded COUSIN, a collective to support Native filmmakers and is an assistant professor of Film and Electronic Arts at Bard College. 

Artist, photographer and filmmaker Sky Hopinka centers Indigenous perspectives in his films, layering abstract sounds, bright imagery and occasionally his own poems. Hopinka’s films are intended to capture the histories and contemporary experiences of Native peoples. His films Anti-Objects, or Space Without Path or Boundary (2017), Mnemonics of Shape and Reason (2021), and maɬni—towards the ocean, towards the shore (2020) all show Hopinka’s use of innovative cinematic language. He also founded COUSIN, a collective to support Native filmmakers and is an assistant professor of Film and Electronic Arts at Bard College.