Suburban Sublime

"POET, SCHOLAR, AND TEACHER John G. Neihardt (1881-1973) is best known for Black Elk Speaks (1932), a widely read text that was highly influential among various American countercultures of the twentieth century-including the Beat and New Age movements-whose participants were searching for different avenues to spiritual and intellectual enlightenment. The book details the life and otherworldly visions of Black Elk, the Oglala Lakota healer and shaman who bore witness to the horrors of white settler colonialism firsthand, including at the battles of Little Big Horn (1876) and Wounded Knee (1890)."

"The two men forged a deep bond through shared encounters with near-death experiences and altered states, deepening Neihardt's conviction that consciousness could exist beyond the physical plane. Indeed, Neihardt believed in the afterlife. But after accidentally causing the death of his wife, Mona, he likely may have needed proof. Thus began the Society for Research on Rapport and Telekinesis ( SORRAT), a vast psychic experiment born of the author's most celebrated work and most devastating heartbreak."

John G. Neihardt (1881–1973) gained renown for Black Elk Speaks (1932), which records Oglala Lakota healer Black Elk's life, visions, and witness to Little Big Horn (1876) and Wounded Knee (1890). Neihardt and Black Elk developed a close bond rooted in near-death experiences and altered states, solidifying Neihardt's belief in consciousness beyond the physical. After accidentally causing his wife Mona's death, Neihardt sought empirical reassurance and initiated the Society for Research on Rapport and Telekinesis (SORRAT), a large-scale psychic experiment. SORRAT merged poetry, ritual, paranormal inquiry, and experimental practice, anticipating interdisciplinary avant-garde strategies and probing questions of distributed agency and invisible transmission.

Read at Artforum