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SURVIVA: A Future Ancestral Field Guide
An ambitious, world-envisioning work of Indigenous futurism.
Since 2015—through a polymathic proliferation of forms including sculpture, regalia, film, photography, poetry, painting, and installation—acclaimed multimedia artist Cannupa Hanska Luger has been weaving together strands of a new myth. Collectively referred to as Future Ancestral Technologies, this sprawling series of interrelated works seeks to reimagine Indigenous life and culture in a postcolonial world where space exploration has reduced and reconfigured the earth's population.
A Future Ancestral Field Guide offers readers a multidimensional view beneath, beyond, and between the lines of Luger's ever-expanding artistic universe. In this new ecstatically hybrid work, Luger transforms a 1970s military survival guide through poetic redaction, speculative fiction, and iterative line drawing—deftly surfacing and disrupting the colonial subconscious that haunts the suppressed histories of this vexed source text. An epic and timely meditation on planetary life in the midst of transformation, SURVIVA boldly presents an earth-based ethos for a demilitarized futuredream that foregrounds Indigenous knowledge as critical to humanity's survival.
Since 2015—through a polymathic proliferation of forms including sculpture, regalia, film, photography, poetry, painting, and installation—acclaimed multimedia artist Cannupa Hanska Luger has been weaving together strands of a new myth. Collectively referred to as Future Ancestral Technologies, this sprawling series of interrelated works seeks to reimagine Indigenous life and culture in a postcolonial world where space exploration has reduced and reconfigured the earth's population.
A Future Ancestral Field Guide offers readers a multidimensional view beneath, beyond, and between the lines of Luger's ever-expanding artistic universe. In this new ecstatically hybrid work, Luger transforms a 1970s military survival guide through poetic redaction, speculative fiction, and iterative line drawing—deftly surfacing and disrupting the colonial subconscious that haunts the suppressed histories of this vexed source text. An epic and timely meditation on planetary life in the midst of transformation, SURVIVA boldly presents an earth-based ethos for a demilitarized futuredream that foregrounds Indigenous knowledge as critical to humanity's survival.
162 pages, Paperback
Published September 2, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
January 24, 2026
I love this concept!!! I got it from the library but if I find it somewhere I’ll get a copy for my office hehehe
Graphic novel is a weird way of putting it but the base material is Army FM 21-76 and the artist blacks out text and draws and writes poetry on top
Graphic novel is a weird way of putting it but the base material is Army FM 21-76 and the artist blacks out text and draws and writes poetry on top
May 6, 2026
A must-read graphic novel transforming a 1970s military survival book originally written from a very European perspective (focused on domination and control of wilderness, viewing nature’s equilibrium as a battle that needs to be fought and won), into indigenous teachings. While the concept of the novel is dystopian, set in a world that has been abandoned by Westerners after the complete decimation of Earth, the writing is of course reflective of our actual Earth today. It reminds us of the environment’s true way of being, despite the bombardment of messaging we receive that pushes us to view ourselves as separate from the natural world. The art, writing, and remaining parts of the survival guide come together to create a moving piece of work that is entirely anti-capitalist. Below are some of my favorite excerpts from the novel:
The land is,
the ocean is, the sky is, the earth is,
all long before we are. Our edge is defined by its relationship to that which it touches and can be touched and so it is. Belonging is a blood clot drying in the grass, on the land.
Don’t be afraid of death- it is the reward for life.
Our ears strain to hear the song our hearts have always felt. The melody rings out from a voice that was here all along in a language we all understand. It is hard to remember the sound of our mother’s heartbeat through embryonic fluid, but that is the first sound we ever heard, amplified by water.
The song sings to all living beings: We are not alone.
Then we are born.
And we open our eyes to see that the song unfolds
and rolls out through hills and valleys, long river basins and shorelines, across the crest of ocean waves and the textures on tree trunks. The song slides over desert sands and mountain peaks. It speaks without sound, so loud that we know:
Each and every one of us is built to carry water. We are vessels to hold and to share, to protect and keep safe.
We are in crisis.
Intelligence is an extension of nature.
Dominion threatens intelligence.
The land is,
the ocean is, the sky is, the earth is,
all long before we are. Our edge is defined by its relationship to that which it touches and can be touched and so it is. Belonging is a blood clot drying in the grass, on the land.
Don’t be afraid of death- it is the reward for life.
Our ears strain to hear the song our hearts have always felt. The melody rings out from a voice that was here all along in a language we all understand. It is hard to remember the sound of our mother’s heartbeat through embryonic fluid, but that is the first sound we ever heard, amplified by water.
The song sings to all living beings: We are not alone.
Then we are born.
And we open our eyes to see that the song unfolds
and rolls out through hills and valleys, long river basins and shorelines, across the crest of ocean waves and the textures on tree trunks. The song slides over desert sands and mountain peaks. It speaks without sound, so loud that we know:
Each and every one of us is built to carry water. We are vessels to hold and to share, to protect and keep safe.
We are in crisis.
Intelligence is an extension of nature.
Dominion threatens intelligence.
April 24, 2026
"A final dance for living bodies is to be torn apart completely. Scavengers transform endings into beginnings, celebrating life after death. A pivotal component to rejuvenate the cycle. Sheltering the living from the intricacies of death's omnivorous annihilation. Nothing shall be wasted by the scavenger because to them nothing is waste."
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May 7, 2026kind of unrateable so i won’t bother trying. definitely one of the most formally interesting projects i’ve ever engaged with, the use of a survival guide as the foundational text and the writing over of that text almost does the same amount, if not more work, as the actual text and image on the page for me. not sure i have much more to say than that
September 26, 2025
This is one of the most impactful works of experimental literature I have ever read. I think it’s also a piece that anyone can enjoy and find meaning in, truly an incredible read that I will be savoring for years to come. Remarkable.
April 7, 2026
The winner of this year's PEN/Jean Stein award. I'm glad I read it, but not sure how I feel about it. I need to sit with this one for a little bit.
"How do you heal a wound that is still being cut?"
"How do you heal a wound that is still being cut?"
February 19, 2026
meant to be savored slowly and cyclically. if you’re feeling unmoored, this will plug you right back in!
April 13, 2026
I’m so super for this, I was into it crazy
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April 25, 2026Graphic novel lovers, you must check this out. It’s one of the coolest books I’ve held in my hands in a long time.
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April 25, 2026Fascinating work of art. Blends found text, black-out, and overlay.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews