Through Our Eyes

Through Our Eyes: A Reclamation

Location: Lobby Gallery
Opening: August 26, 2024
Curators: Debra Yepa-Pappan (Jemez Pueblo/ Korean), Molina Two Bulls-Parker (Oglala Lakota/Northern Cheyenne), and Yatika Starr Fields (Osage/Muscogee Creek/Cherokee)

Through Our Eyes: A Reclamation features three Indigenous guest-curators, Debra Yepa-Pappan, Molina Two Bulls-Parker, and Yatika Starr Fields, as they create works of art that that reinterpret the Edward S. Curtis and Joseph K. Dixon photography collections, held at the Library of Congress and Indiana University, and sound recordings from the Archives of Traditional Music held by IU Libraries. Recognizing that the Curtis and Dixon collections were originally produced through extractive and colonialist means, this project seeks to redress colonial harm by prioritizing the guest-curators’ visions, recentering Indigenous perspectives, and uplifting source community voices.

Click to see the Virtual Exhibit!

Through Our Eyes on Spatial.io

More about the Curators

Debra Yepa-Pappan

Debra Yepa-Pappan (Jemez Pueblo/Korean), is a contemporary multimedia artist and curator who specializes in photography and digital collaging. She’s the co-founder and Director of Exhibitions and Programs at the Center for Native Futures in Chicago, Illinois.

Debra's Facebook Page

Center for Native Futures

Molina Two Bulls-Parker

Molina Two-Bulls Parker (Oglala Lakota/Northern Cheyenne) specializes in beadwork, quilting, and handmade dolls. She’s the founder of Molina’s Lakota Beadwork based in Red Shirt, South Dakota.

Molina's Instagram

Molina's Lakota Beadwork

Yatika Starr Fields

Yatika Starr Fields (Osage/Muscogee Cree/Cherokee) is a painter, muralist, street artist, and community activist based in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Yatika's Instagram

Yatika's Artist Website

Uplifting the Process

This exhibit gives a new way to understand Indigenous/Native histories. Below is the process of how the guest Indigenous curators partnered with the IUMAA team to develop this exhibit to honor the past, present, and future generations.

Our Process

Guest curators and the IUMAA team met monthly over the year to check in, discuss direction, and ensure the ability to view historical images and sounds.

Guest curators decided on what topics and material culture would be represented in the exhibit. Guest curators were also the leaders in writing and approving the information you will read in this exhibit.

Guest curators visited Bloomington to view the Wanamaker collections at IUMAA, the Archives of Traditional Music in the IU Libraries, and digitally view the Edward Curtis images at the Library of Congress.

University Information Technology Services Advanced Visualization Lab (AVL) worked collaboratively with the guest curators to build the virtual exhibition spaces. The AVL team took 3D images of material culture, visited Oklahoma to map a culturally significant location under the directive of the guest curator, and built the virtual gallery spaces in alignment with creative vision of the guest curators.

Guest curators worked with the IUMAA team to decide on the graphics, colors, and design of this exhibit.
The IUMAA team completed exhibition install with the guest curators through video calls and images to ensure the displays were in alignment with their vision, with final site visit approval in October 2024.

Related Resouces

Collections

Wanamaker Collection of American Indian Photographs and Documents
IU Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
https://iumaa.iu.edu/collections/ethnographic-collections/wanamaker.html

Curtis (Edward S.) Collection
Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
https://www.loc.gov/collections/edward-s-Curtis/about-this-collection/

Dixon, Joseph K. wax cylinder recordings
Curtis, Edward S. wax cylinder recordings
IU Archives of Traditional Music
https://libraries.indiana.edu/archives-traditional-music

Grant Funding from the Library of Congress

This exhibition is a result of the “Connecting Collections: Indigenous Identities in Edward Curtis and Joseph Dixon Materials” project, made possible in part by funding from the Library of Congress. The Connecting Communities Digital Initiative (CCDI) grant for Higher Education was part of the Library’s Of the People: Widening the Path program with support from the Mellon Foundation.

Project Leads: Brandie Macdonald and Kelsey Grimm

Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology