Past Exhibitions

Through Our Eyes: A Reclamation

Through Our Eyes: A Reclamation featured three Indigenous guest-curators, Debra Yepa-Pappan (Jemez Pueblo/Korean), Molina Two Bulls (Oglala Lakota/Northern Cheyenne), and Yatika Starr Fields (Osage/Muscogee Creek/Cherokee), as they created works of art that that reinterpreted 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 image and sound collections were originally produced through extractive and colonialist means, this project sought to redress colonial harm by prioritizing the guest-curators’ visions, recentering Indigenous perspectives, and uplifting source community voices.

Finding Home

Originally entitled "On the Run", Finding Home is a powerful collaborative project led by Deborah Haber, Executive Director of DEEP Arts Rochester, in partnership with students, many of whom are recent migrants and refugees to Austria. The artworks on display reflected the lived experiences of forcibly displaced individuals, each piece a testament to resilience and the strength of the human spirit.

Woven Through Time and Place

Woven Through Time and Place featured beautiful textiles stewarded by the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Each the fall and spring semesters each featured a different selection of textiles, giving visitors the opportunity to experience the breadth and depth of the collection. A wide variety of techniques can be used to create patterns and designs on fabrics—techniques may be widespread or tied to a certain geographic region, culture, clan, artist, culture bearer, or family. The textiles in this exhibition showed various such techniques and designs from diverse origins.

Mapping the Midwest

The Reading Room and Archives features rotating selections from the Museum’s libraries and archival collections. The first exhibition focused on maps of the Midwest. Mapping the Midwest demonstrated and provided insight into the priorities and assumptions of mapmakers and revealed the various lenses through which they viewed the land. 

Illusions of Identity: The Colonial Gaze

Illusions of Identity: The Colonial Gaze displayed two photographers whose work shaped and spread powerful myths and stereotypes about Indigenous Peoples. Joseph K. Dixon (U.S) and Alfred Martin Duggan-Cronin (South Africa) each staged what they deemed “traditional” scenes for their photos. They insisted on Indigenous regalia and props not used in everyday life. Both photographers manipulated the visuals in the photos to fit colonial expectations of Indigenous life.

The eleven photographs displayed in the exhibition bore witness to these “illusions of identity,” by revealing how the colonial gaze at the time defined Indigenous identity and distorted perceptions.

Kids Create: Lincoln Street Boys & Girls Club

Using skateboard decks, acrylics, and other materials Lincoln Street Boys and Girls Club members explored their ideas about identity and creativity. A graffiti demo at the Switchyard Park by Mike “Brisk” Burchfield helped kick off the project, leading campers to think about how various styles of art help show different sides of themselves. More than a dozen distinctive skateboards in a variety of styles revealed what these young artists want to share with the world.