Jeffrey Gibson is having a moment. From highlighting the 2019 Whitney Biennial to the PMA’s summer exhibition Open-Ended, Gibson’s work has never felt so vital.

Drawing influence from popular music, fashion, literature, cultural and critical theory, as well as his own individual heritage—Gibson is a member of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and half Cherokee—Gibson's work offers commentary on cultural hybridity and the assimilation of modernist artistic strategies within contemporary art.

Born in 1972 and growing up in the United States, Germany, Korea, England, and elsewhere, Gibson’s unique combination of global cultural influences converge in his multi-disciplinary practice.

Each year, the Nelson Social Justice Fund lecture presents vital perspectives from artists and scholars around relevant issues in contemporary art, and this year the PMA is honored to host Jeffrey Gibson as he shares his insights, influences, and vision with our audiences.

Jeffrey Gibson's work People Like Us is on view as part of Open-Ended: New Acquisitions at the Portland Museum of Art, on view June 7, 2019 through October 20, 2019.