Native American performance artist James Luna is at art museum today

James Luna will present his performance piece "Take a picture with a real Indian" today at 5:15 p.m. in the Johnson Museum of Art. Courtesy of James Luna

James Luna, a Native American visual and performance artist, will present his work "Take a picture with a real Indian" today, Oct. 18, at 5:15 p.m. in the Gold Gallery in the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art on campus. The event is free and open to all.

"I hope that, using irony and wit, this work can help us all reconsider perceptions of Native American people, or any culturally different people for that matter," Luna said. "In light of recent events, this has become more important than ever."

Luna uses the empty gallery space to create a special kind of visual composition, not unlike creating a painting or drawing. The performance involves participation by audience members, so their response becomes part of the piece as well.

Luna, who lives on the LaJolla Indian Reservation in California, first performed this work at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City in 1992 as part of the exhibition "The Tourist Show" and has performed it throughout the country since then.

This performance is part of the campuswide "Indians' Indians" program at Cornell this year. Luna's visit is co-sponsored by the Cornell Council for the Arts. For further information, call 255-6464.