CLIENT EXHIBITION: Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artists opens in Minneapolis

Today, June 2, 2019, Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artists opens at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. The exhibition gathers “more than 117 works dating from ancient times to the present and made in a variety of media, including sculpture, video and digital arts, photography, textiles, and decorative arts.” Indigenous women from “more than 50 communities and cultures from all over North America are represented” included Métis artists Rosalie Favell (www.rosaliefavell.com) and Christi Belcourt (www.christibelcourt.com)

They [curators Jill Ahlberg Yohe & Teri Greeves] recognized that the majority of Native art was and is made by women, but came to the realization that there had never been a major exhibition or catalogue dedicated to Native women artists. (read more)

At this time, Indigenous women working as professional artists, academics, curators and writers are changing the face of institutions along with shifting process around museology and contemporary curatorial practice. Recognizing their committment, labour and talent is imperative. With regards to the Hearts of Our People exhibition, the objects included were reviewed by an advisory committee, one which included Indigenous women. No sacred objects were included in the exhibition and “much of the work that went into this exhibition involved working with archaeologists to research provenance and secure objects that were instead used in a domestic/home setting.”

More information on the exhibition process can be found here, more information on the artists can be found in the recent New York Times article The Hand of Native American Women, Visible at Last. 

Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artists, Press Preview from Minneapolis Institute of Art on Vimeo.

Native American Women Artists Exhibition Roundtable from Minneapolis Institute of Art on Vimeo.

ABOVE IMAGE: Screen capture of Minneapolis Institute of Art website with art work by Christi Belcourt.