Exhibitions
HOMELANDS: CONNECTING TO MOUNDS THROUGH NATIVE ART
McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture (UTK) / 1327 Circle Park Dr. January 25, 2025 - December 31, 2027
The McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, announces a new exhibition, Homelands: Connecting to Mounds Through Native Art.
Homelands showcases contemporary art by 17 Native artists to emphasize the enduring ties between Native Nations and Knox County. As a result of the exhibition, the museum has acquired 22 new works for its permanent collection.
Museum visitors will see interpretive text panels, paintings, ceramics, textiles and other media displayed in the renovated gallery space. Many of these works were created specifically for this project by notable artists, including Johnnie Diacon, Cherokee National Treasure Jane Osti and many others. Each artist’s work is accompanied by a direct quote about their piece, giving visitors insight into the personal and cultural significance behind the art.
Throughout five years of planning and collaboration, Native voices have been central to shaping the exhibition. The McClung Museum worked closely with Tribal governments, who selected co-curators from four Native Nations with Ancestral ties to Knox County — Cherokee Nation, Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana, Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and Muscogee (Creek) Nation — to guide the exhibition’s development. Homelands provides a platform for Native artists and co-curators to speak directly to the museum’s audience, sharing Indigenous perspectives on placemaking and the cultural and spiritual significance of Native American mounds.
The exhibition also aims to raise awareness of the importance of Indigenous mounds across the Eastern United States. UT sits on the Ancestral homelands of eleven Federally Recognized Tribes. Mounds, like the one located on the university’s campus and thousands of others across the region, are still important aspects of contemporary Indigenous lifeways. Through Homelands, the museum hopes to spark ongoing conversations about the stewardship of sacred spaces and the importance of Indigenous perspectives in conservation efforts.
Homelands: Connecting to Mounds Through Native Art is made possible by lead support from the Henry Luce Foundation and the Terra Foundation for American Art. Additional support is provided by the Tennessee Valley Authority, Phil Lawson, the UT Office of the Provost and the UT Division of Access and Engagement.
Image: Story of the Land, 2023, Starr Hardridge (Muscogee (Creek) Nation, 1974–), Original acrylic and venetian plaster on linen, McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture, 2024.11.1
