YOUR REFUSAL TO SEE

Anna Tsouhlarakis: YOUR REFUSAL TO SEE: A Native Guide Project

East Window

4550 Broadway, Suite C-3B2, Boulder, CO 80304

November 1, 2024-February 21, 2025

Artist Talk: January 23, 7-9pm

Review by Paloma Jimenez

Pandering to polite conversation, people will often defer to the phrase, “It’s a complicated issue” when topics of genocide, colonialism, and racism arise. For Anna Tsouhlarakis, it’s not so complicated; it’s black and white. Her text installation YOUR REFUSAL TO SEE: A Native Guide Project at East Window directly confronts the internalized racism of the people she’s encountered in Boulder.

A view of the title wall and beyond of Anna Tsouhlarakis’s exhibition YOUR REFUSAL TO SEE: A Native Guide Project at East Window in Boulder. Image by Paloma Jimenez.

Tsouhlarakis’s exhibition reveals that beneath all the liberal policies and personas lies a willful ignorance of Indigenous identities and histories, as well as an intentional upholding of white supremacy. Bold blocks of text glow on the wall like punchy billboards signaling for a collectively informed awakening.

An installation view of Anna Tsouhlarakis’s exhibition YOUR REFUSAL TO SEE: A Native Guide Project. Image by Paloma Jimenez.

Anecdotes from the artist’s daily life have been translated into straightforward lines of brutalist poetry. Tsouhlarakis avoids any sentimental flourishes, stating the facts and leaving space for the viewer’s own emotional response. Every letter is capitalized; each statement ends in a period. The formatting of the text lends the space a sense of urgency—a direct expression of exasperation. If the font is large enough, bold enough, visually contrastinged enough…can you see what’s right in front of you? Do you even want to?

The panel “DID YOU NOTICE–THIS PLACE HAS A BLINDING SPARKLE FROM AFAR BUT AS YOU GET CLOSER IT TURNS OUT IT’S JUST A FLAT WHITE FROM STARBUCKS.” 2023, text installation, in Anna Tsouhlarakis’s exhibition YOUR REFUSAL TO SEE: A Native Guide Project. Image by Paloma Jimenez.

The panels of text are scattered close together and at varying heights. The words envelop even the most peripheral limits of vision. Right-justified and lined against the edge of a wall, one panel reads “DID YOU NOTICE–THIS PLACE HAS A BLINDING SPARKLE FROM AFAR BUT AS YOU GET CLOSER IT TURNS OUT IT’S JUST A FLAT WHITE FROM STARBUCKS.” The promise of a progressive, culturally informed city becomes another strategically manufactured façade. Many of the texts grapple with these limits of perception and preconceptions.

The panel “DON’T WORRY–IF YOU TURN OFF THE LIGHT YOU CAN’T SEE HOW DARK I AM.” 2023, text installation, in Anna Tsouhlarakis’s exhibition YOUR REFUSAL TO SEE: A Native Guide Project. Image by Paloma Jimenez.

In “DON’T WORRY–IF YOU TURN OFF THE LIGHT YOU CAN’T SEE HOW DARK I AM.” Tsouhlarakis plays with white fear, revealing that the only danger posed by her brown skin is others' prejudiced perceptions of it. Don’t worry, sorry, no worries, not to worry—these assuaging introductions appear throughout the text installation. If a message is prefaced with an apology or placation, perhaps people are more likely to keep reading.

The panel “WHEN YOU USE A RACIAL SLUR, IT WOULD BE GREAT IF YOU COULD TRY TO GET THE RACE CORRECT, AT THE VERY LEAST.” 2023, text installation, in Anna Tsouhlarakis’s exhibition YOUR REFUSAL TO SEE: A Native Guide Project. Image by Paloma Jimenez.

Despite the bleak nature of some of the text in YOUR REFUSAL TO SEE: A Native Guide Project, Tsouhlarakis does not fall into the slippery dark pit of cynicism or cryptic critical theory speak. The language is accessible and humorous. Towards the front, a text block asserts “WHEN YOU USE A RACIAL SLUR, IT WOULD BE GREAT IF YOU COULD TRY TO GET THE RACE CORRECT, AT THE VERY LEAST.” Under the oppressive weight of unfathomable ignorance, humor becomes a buoy.

The panel below the title wall text: “OOPS, I THINK I RAN OVER YOUR SPIRIT ANIMAL THIS MORNING.” 2023, text installation, in Anna Tsouhlarakis’s exhibition YOUR REFUSAL TO SEE: A Native Guide Project. Image by Paloma Jimenez.

The panel “UNFORTUNATELY, YOU CAN’T SMUDGE OFF YOUR COLONIZER VIBES.” 2023, text installation, in Anna Tsouhlarakis’s exhibition YOUR REFUSAL TO SEE: A Native Guide Project. Image by Paloma Jimenez.

The funniest moments expose Boulder’s performative pseudo-spiritualism. Text installed on the title wall reads “OOPS, I THINK I RAN OVER YOUR SPIRIT ANIMAL THIS MORNING.” And another, “UNFORTUNATELY, YOU CAN’T SMUDGE OFF YOUR COLONIZER VIBES.” Misinformed appropriation abounds in wealthy liberal cities and Indigenous practices are often mined for aesthetic intrigue. Has the white CEO of an eco-tech startup who scents their waiting room with burning sage ever bothered to ask an Indigenous person their story?

On the left: The panel “SORRY, IT’S ACTUALLY NOT A LAW THAT BROWN PEOPLE HAVE TO MOVE OUT OF YOUR WAY ON THE SIDEWALK.”; on the right: The panel “ACKNOWLEDGE THE LAND, ACKNOWLEDGE THE PEOPLE, ACKNOWLEDGE THE ROLE YOU PLAY IN THEIR DEMISE.” 2023, text installations, in Anna Tsouhlarakis’s exhibition YOUR REFUSAL TO SEE: A Native Guide Project. Image by Paloma Jimenez.

Honest, ironic, and tragically funny, Anna Tsouhlarakis’ unflinching text installation at East Window creates a space for engaging with the uncomfortable reality of one’s own internalized prejudices about Indigenous peoples. The text is snappy, with a tinge of defeat; it’s hard to think of the perfect comeback in the heat of a disrespectful moment. Clearly, the artist could have filled a space five times the size with firsthand experiences of microaggressions in Boulder. Tsouhlarakis says it better than I can: “ACKNOWLEDGE THE LAND, ACKNOWLEDGE THE PEOPLE, ACKNOWLEDGE THE ROLE YOU PLAY IN THEIR DEMISE.”

Paloma Jimenez (she/her) is an artist, writer, and teacher. Her work has been exhibited throughout the United States and has been featured in international publications. She received her BA from Vassar College and her MFA from Parsons School of Design.