Exhibitions

HEARTS OF OUR PEOPLE: NATIVE WOMEN ARTISTS

Frist Art Museum / 919 Broadway September 27, 2019 - January 12, 2020

This is the first major museum exhibition exclusively devoted to Native women artists from all over the United States and Canada, ranging across time and media. Developed in close cooperation with leading Native artists and historians, the exhibition offers multiple perspectives to enhance understanding of Native art practices. The approximately 115 objects, including textiles, baskets, jewelry, painting, sculpture, photography, video, and digital art, are organized into sections that reflect why Native women create art. Hearts of Our People not only helps visitors understand the traditional role of Native women artists in serving the cultural, economic, diplomatic, and domestic needs of their communities, but also goes beyond the longstanding convention of treating these artworks as unattributed representations of entire cultures. The contemporary works on view, in particular, highlight the intentionality of the individual artist and demonstrate how the artist has been influenced by the preceding generations. The exhibition will be accompanied by interactive interpretive “ArtStories” in multiple media, and a scholarly catalogue.

Organized by the Minneapolis Institute of Art.

This exhibition has been made possible in part by a major grant from the Henry Luce Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the human endeavor.


Image:

Jamie Okuma, Luiseno/Shoshone-Bannock. Adaptation II, 2012. Shoes designed by Christian
Louboutin. Leather, glass beads, porcupine quills, sterling silver cones, brass sequins, chicken
feathers, cloth, deer rawhide, and buckskin. Minneapolis Institute of Art, Bequest of Virginia
Doneghy, by exchange, 2012.68.1A,B. © 2012 Jamie Okuma