Installation view of exhibition
Past exhibition

Exhibition: Place, Nations, Generations, Beings: 200 Years of Indigenous North American Art

Place, Nations, Generations, Beings: 200 Years of Indigenous North American Art presents a wide variety of Indigenous voices and experiences through more than 75 artworks dating from the early 19th century to the present. This student-curated exhibition—the first exhibition of Indigenous art to bring together objects from the Yale University Art Gallery, the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, and the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library—showcases basketry, beadwork, drawings, photography, pottery, textiles, and wood carving by prominent artists such as Maria Martinez (P’ohwhóge Owingeh [San Ildefonso Pueblo]), Marie Watt (Seneca), M.F.A. 1996, and Will Wilson (Diné [Navajo]), among others. Guided by the four themes in its title, the exhibition investigates the connections that Indigenous peoples have to their lands; the power of objects as expressions of sovereignty; the passing on of artistic practices and traditions; and the relationships that artists and nations have to animals, plants, and cosmological beings. The objects on view contribute to the larger narrative of American art and act as touchstones for further partnerships with Indigenous nations.

Sea Monster Mask, 1999. Wood, plastic, textile, and paint

Richard Hunt (Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw), Sea Monster Mask, 1999. Red cedar with pigment and metal. Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, inv. no. YPM ANT.256928. © Richard Hunt. Courtesy Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History

Views of the Exhibition

Exhibition made possible by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Jane and Gerald Katcher Fund for Education, and the Nolen-Bradley Family Fund for Education. Organized by Katherine Nova McCleary, B.A. 2018, and Leah Tamar Shrestinian, B.A. 2018, with Joseph Zordan, B.A. 2019. Assistance provided by Kaitlin McCormick, the former Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in Native American Art and Curation, Department of American Paintings and Sculpture.

Related Publication

Publication
Place, Nations, Generations, Beings

Place, Nations, Generations, Beings: 200 Years of Indigenous North American Art

Katherine Nova McCleary and Leah Tamar Shrestinian with Joseph Zordan

Preface by Melissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel

Essay by Ned Blackhawk and Summer Sutton