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{{short description|Diné-American composer and artist (born 1977)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2022}}
{{Infobox artist
| name = Raven Chacon 
| image = Raven Chacon in front of the audience at Columbia GSAPP Cropped.jpg
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption = Chacon speaking at Columbia University in 2022
| native_name =
| native_name_lang =
| birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1977}} 
| birth_place = [[Fort Defiance, Arizona]], United States
| baptised = 
| death_date = 
| death_place =
| resting_place =
| resting_place_coordinates = 
| nationality = 
| education = [[California Institute of the Arts]]
[[University of New Mexico]]
| alma_mater =
| known_for = [[sound art]], non-vocal instrumentalist, [[installation art]], composer, musician, visual artist
| notable_works =
| style = [[noise music]], experimental sound, composer, musician, visual artist
| awards = {{awards|[[MacArthur Fellows Program|MacArthur Fellowship]] 2023
[[Pulitzer Prize for Music|Pulitzer Prize]] 2022}}
| website = {{URL|spiderwebsinthesky.com}}
}}

'''Raven Chacon''' (born 1977) is a Diné [[composer]], musician and artist. Born in [[Fort Defiance, Arizona]] within the [[Navajo Nation]], Chacon became the first Native American to win a [[Pulitzer Prize for Music]], for his ''[[Voiceless Mass]]'' in 2022.

He has also been a solo performer of [[noise music]] and worked with groups such as [[Postcommodity]].<ref name="SW Cont mag">{{cite journal |last1=Porter |first1=Clayton |title=Studio Visit: Raven Chacon |journal=Southwest Contemporary |date=August 2016 |url=https://southwestcontemporary.com/raven-chacon/ |access-date=October 2, 2020}}</ref>

== Life and career ==
[[File:Still Life -3 (37642472245).jpg|thumb|Still Life #3, detail of sound installation at the [[National Museum of the American Indian]]]]

Raven Chacon was born in 1977 in [[Fort Defiance, Arizona]], US within the [[Navajo Nation]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Raven Chacon |publisher=[[Foundation for Contemporary Arts]] |url=https://www.foundationforcontemporaryarts.org/recipients/raven-chacon/ |access-date=November 28, 2022 }}</ref> He attended the [[University of New Mexico]], where he obtained his BA in Fine Arts in 2001, then received an MFA in music composition from the [[California Institute of the Arts]] in 2004.<ref name="cc">{{cite web |title=Raven Chacon Fort Defiance, Navajo Nation, AZ |url=https://creative-capital.org/artists/postcommodity/raven-chacon/ |publisher=Creative Capital |access-date=October 3, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Trinh |first=Jean |title=Raven Chacon: Producing Pulitzer Prize-Winning Work Through Experimental Sound |url=https://thepool.calarts.edu/2022/07/26/raven-chacon-producing-pulitzer-prize-winning-work-through-experimental-sound/ |access-date=2025-01-19 |website=The Pool |language=en-US}}</ref> He was a student of [[James Tenney]], [[Morton Subotnick]], [[Michael Pisaro]], [[Wadada Leo Smith]] and Christopher Shultis.

Chacon's visual and sonic artwork has been exhibited widely in the U.S. and abroad.<ref name="Heard">{{cite web |title=Still Life No. 3: Raven Chacon |url=https://heard.org/exhibits/still-life-no-3-raven-chacon/ |publisher=Heard Museum |access-date=October 2, 2020}}</ref> His room-sized sound and text installation, ''Still Life, #3'' (2015), was exhibited in the ''Transformer: Native Art in Light and Sound'' exhibition at the [[National Museum of the American Indian]], New York.<ref name="NMAI">{{cite web |title=Transformer: Native Art in Light and Sound |url=https://americanindian.si.edu/explore/exhibitions/item?id=960 |publisher=Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian |accessdate=October 2, 2020}}</ref><ref name="AI Mag">{{cite journal |last1=Ash-Milby |first1=Kathleen |authorlink1=Kathleen Ash-Milby |title=Art that Moves |journal=American Indian |date=Fall 2017 |volume=18 |issue=3 |url=https://www.americanindianmagazine.org/story/art-moves |accessdate=October 2, 2020}}</ref> His collective and solo work has been presented at [[Sydney Biennale]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.blouinartinfo.com/news/story/823194/top-5-videos-celebrating-the-2012-sydney-biennale |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140318092459/http://www.blouinartinfo.com/news/story/823194/top-5-videos-celebrating-the-2012-sydney-biennale |archive-date=March 18, 2014 |title=Top 5 Videos Celebrating the 2012 Sydney Biennale {{!}} BLOUIN ARTINFO}}</ref> [[Kennedy Center]], the [[Whitney Biennial]],<ref name="Princeton AM" /> [[documenta 14]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Postcommodity|url=https://www.documenta14.de/en/artists/13562/postcommodity|publisher=documenta 14 |accessdate=May 20, 2022}}</ref> [[Adelaide International (art exhibition)|Adelaide International]], [[Vancouver Art Gallery]], [[ASU Art Museum]], [[Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal]], the San Francisco Electronic Music Festival,<ref name="SFEMF">{{cite web |title=Raven Chacon |url=http://www.sfemf.org/artists/raven-chacon/ |publisher=San Francisco Electronic Music Festival |accessdate=October 3, 2020}}</ref> the [[Heard Museum]],<ref name="PNT">{{cite news |last1=Timble |first1=Lynn |title=Raven Chacon Returns to Phoenix, Explores Navajo Creation Story at the Heard |url=https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/arts/conversation-navajo-artist-raven-chacon-heard-museum-phoenix-11316751 |accessdate=October 2, 2020 |publisher=Phoenix New Times |date=June 26, 2019}}</ref> [[Chaco Canyon]], and [[Performance Today]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://performancetoday.publicradio.org/features/2010/music_that_matters/composing_on_the_reservation.shtml |title = Performance Today |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100705165619/http://performancetoday.publicradio.org/features/2010/music_that_matters/composing_on_the_reservation.shtml |archive-date=July 5, 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Chacon also performs in the groups KILT with Bob Bellerue, Mesa Ritual with William Fowler Collins, Endlings with John Dieterich, and collaborations with [[Laura Ortman]]. In 2016, he was commissioned by [[Kronos Quartet]] to compose a work for their ''Fifty For The Future'' project.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kronosquartet.org/fifty-for-the-future/composers/raven-chacon |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160204070104/http://kronosquartet.org/fifty-for-the-future/composers/raven-chacon |archive-date=February 4, 2016 |title=Kronos Quartet}}</ref>

Chacon serves as Composer-in-Residence with the [[Native American Composers Apprenticeship Project]].<ref name="2009-04-08-newMusicUSA">{{cite web
|title=Native American Composers |publisher=[[NewMusicBox]] |first=Gail |last=Wein |date=April 8, 2009
|website=newmusicusa.org |url=https://nmbx.newmusicusa.org/native-american-composers/ |access-date=January 30, 2022}}
</ref> In 2012, he was awarded a [[Creative Capital]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://creative-capital.org/grantees/view/602/project:718 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120115031420/http://creative-capital.org/grantees/view/602/project:718 |archive-date=January 15, 2012 |title=Creative Capital}}</ref> Visual Arts grant. In 2014, he was honored with a [[Native Arts and Cultures Foundation]] National Artist Fellowship in Music.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nativeartsandcultures.org/individual/2014/raven-chacon |title=Raven Chacon | Native Arts and Cultures Foundation |accessdate=May 12, 2014 |url-status = dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140415063106/http://www.nativeartsandcultures.org/individual/2014/raven-chacon |archivedate=April 15, 2014 }} Raven Chacon (Navajo) 2014 NACF Music Fellow</ref> In 2018, Chacon was awarded the [[Berlin Prize]] by the [[American Academy in Berlin]].<ref name="AAB">{{cite web |title=Raven Chacon: INGA MAREN OTTO FELLOW IN MUSIC COMPOSITION - CLASS OF SPRING 2018 |url=https://www.americanacademy.de/person/raven-chacon/ |publisher=American Academy in Berlin |accessdate=October 2, 2020}}</ref>

In 2022, Chacon became the first Native American to win the [[Pulitzer Prize for Music]], which he received for his composition ''[[Voiceless Mass]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/deceptivecadence/2022/05/10/1097760129/raven-chacon-pulitzer-prize-music|title=Meet Raven Chacon, the first Native American to win the Pulitzer Prize for music|first=Tom|last=Huizenga|date=May 10, 2022|website=NPR}}</ref>

==Postcommodity==

Chacon was a member of the Native American art collective, [[Postcommodity]], with whom he has developed multimedia installations which have been exhibited internationally.<ref name="Princeton AM">{{cite web |title=Postcommodity |url=https://artmuseum.princeton.edu/artist-in-residence/postcommodity |publisher=Princeton University Art Museum |accessdate=October 2, 2020}}</ref> Other members include [[Cristóbal Martínez]], [[Kade L. Twist]], [[Steven Yazzie]] and Nathan Young.<ref name="Princeton AM" /> In 2017, as part of Postcommodity, Chacon created the multimedia project, ''...in memoriam'', in Edmonton in 2017, curated by [[Ociciwan Contemporary Art Collective]].<ref>[https://www.uhbooks.directory/2017/06/21/in-memoriam-postcommodity-alex-waterman-and-ociciwan/ Postcommodity, Alex Waterman and Ociciwan: "in memoriam..."]. uh books. 2017. Retrieved March 10, 2018</ref>

== Personal life ==
Chacon lives in [[Albuquerque, New Mexico]], and is married to [[Candice Hopkins]], a [[Tagish]] curator. His sister [[Nani Chacon]] is a muralist.

==Awards and honors==
Chacon has received numerous awards and honors for his work, including the 2022 [[Pulitzer Prize for Music]], an [[American Academy in Berlin]] Prize (music composition), a [[Creative Capital]] award (visual arts), a [[United States Artists]] fellowship (music), a [[Joan Mitchell Foundation]] fellowship,<ref name="AAB" /> a [[Native Arts and Cultures Foundation]] artist fellowship,<ref name="NACF">{{cite web |title=Raven Chacon |date=November 7, 2013 |url=https://www.nativeartsandcultures.org/raven-chacon |publisher=Native Arts and Culture Foundation |accessdate=October 3, 2020}}</ref> among others.<ref name="Heard" /> Chacon received the inaugural [[Mellon Foundation]] Artist-in-Residence fellowship for the [[Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center]] at [[Colorado College]].<ref name="CC">{{cite web |title=Raven Chacon, Lightning Speak |url=https://fac.coloradocollege.edu/exhibits/raven-chacon/ |publisher=Colorado College |accessdate=October 2, 2020}}</ref> In October 2023, Chacon was named a [[MacArthur Fellows Program|MacArthur Fellow]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=MacArthur Fellows - MacArthur Foundation |url=https://www.macfound.org/programs/fellows/ |access-date=2023-10-05 |website=www.macfound.org}}</ref>

== Partial discography ==
* ''Voiceless Mass'' (with [[Present Music]] and [[Ariadne Greif]]) ([[New World Records]], 2025)
* ''Inhale/Exhale'' (w/ Carlos Santistevan and Tatsuya Nakatani) ([[Other Minds (organization)|Other Minds]] Records, 2022)
* ''An Anthology of Chants Operations'' (Ouidah, 2020)
* ''Horse Notations'' (Cimiotti Recordings, 2020)
* ''Crisalide Fossile'' (w/ [[OvO (band)|OvO]]) (Bronson, 2016)
* ''Your New Age Dream Contains More Blood Than You Can Imagine'' 12"LP (w/ Postcommodity) (Anarchymoon, 2011)
* ''Kitchen Sorcery'' (w/ Bob Bellerue) (Prison Tatt Records, 2011)
* ''At the Point Where the Rivers Crossed, We Drew Our Knives'' 12"LP (Anarchymoon, 2010)
* ''Black Streaked Hum'' (Lightning Speak/Featherspines, 2009)
* ''Overheard Songs'' ([[Innova Recordings|Innova]], 2006)
* ''The Incredible 17000 km Split'' (split w/ Torturing Nurse) (8K Mob, 2006)
* ''Jesus Was a Wino'' (w/ Jeff Gburek) (Herbal Records, 2005)
* ''Still/life'' (Sicksicksick, 2004)
* ''Meet the Beatless'' (Sicksicksick, 2003)

==Publications==
* ''For Zitkála-Šá'' Toronto: [[Art Metropole]].{{ISBN| 9781989010167}} Los Angeles: [[New Documents]];{{ISBN| 9781953441096}}. 2022.
* ''OEI #98-99: Aural Poetics'' Stockholm: OEI. 2023.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Official website|http://www.spiderwebsinthesky.com/}}
* [https://www.americanacademy.de/videoaudio/fellow-spotlight-raven-chacon/ Fellow Spotlight: Raven Chacon] at the [[American Academy in Berlin]]
* [https://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-year/2022 2022 Pulitzer Prizes]

{{PulitzerPrize Music}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chacon, Raven}}
[[Category:1977 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:People from Fort Defiance, Arizona]]
[[Category:Navajo artists]]
[[Category:Navajo musicians]]
[[Category:Native American composers]]
[[Category:21st-century classical composers]]
[[Category:California Institute of the Arts alumni]]
[[Category:21st-century American composers]]
[[Category:American male classical composers]]
[[Category:American classical composers]]
[[Category:21st-century American male musicians]]
[[Category:20th-century American artists]]
[[Category:20th-century Native American artists]]
[[Category:21st-century American artists]]
[[Category:21st-century Native American artists]]
[[Category:Pulitzer Prize for Music winners]]
[[Category:MacArthur Fellows]]
[[Category:Navajo Nation people]]

Raven Chacon - Revision history

imported>OperaNewMusicFan: Added significant recent album.