Abstract
Reclaiming Home: Contemporary Seminole Art marked The Ringling’s first presentation of contemporary art by Native American artists with ancestral, historical, and present-day connections to Florida. The exhibition highlighted the breadth and depth of the art by Seminole, Miccosukee, and mixed-heritage artists who are members of the Seminole and Miccosukee Tribes of Florida. Seminoles are part of the five Southeastern nations who were forcibly relocated by the US government in the nineteenth century to present-day Oklahoma and other southern states after the passage of the Indian Removal Act of 1830. In order to acknowledge these historical connections and better contextualize artwork of the Seminole diaspora, Reclaiming Home also included work by Seminole and Muscogee (Creek) artists based in Oklahoma and beyond. The exhibition featured over 100 artworks created after the 1970s by artists working in various media and whose art is rooted in ancestral memory, historical narratives, and intergenerational knowledge systems. The works explored innovative modes of contemporary expression to produce fresh art forms and dialogue about pressing issues that impact Native communities today, including identity and representation, land and language preservation, health, and maintaining traditional ways of knowing. The exhibition amplified urban and rural, community and individual Native American perspectives, while illustrating the crucial historical and contemporary influence that Native artists have contributed to visual arts discourse, social commentary, and community wellness. How can museums better support the creative contributions of Native peoples and highlight artistic voices that collectively further the dialog on Native visual sovereignty while fostering authentic representation?
Presenters
Ola WlusekKeith D. Monda Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art / Florida State University, Florida, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Curating, Exhibitions, Museums, Native American Art, Inclusion, Representation, Visual Sovereignty
Digital Media
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