Indigenizing Galleries
How do we go about changing inaccurate representations of Native people and Native artists? How can galleries and museums become safe community spaces for contemporary Indigenous voices? Listen in to Debra Yepa-Pappan, Co-Founder and Director of Exhibitions and Programs, Center for Native Futures, and Dakota Hoska, Associate Curator of Native Arts at the Denver Art Museum, in a conversation about the ongoing process of indigenizing gallery spaces, institutions, and regions through ethical celebration of Indigenous artwork, voices, and stories.
Experience the Episode
Presented by The Raclin Murphy Museum of Art
Friday, February 21, 2025 12:00 pm
How do we go about changing inaccurate representations of Native people and Native artists? How can galleries and museums become safe community spaces for contemporary Indigenous voices? Listen in to Debra Yepa-Pappan, Co-Founder and Director of Exhibitions and Programs, Center for Native Futures, and Dakota Hoska, Associate Curator of Native Arts at the Denver Art Museum, in conversation about the ongoing process of indigenizing gallery spaces, institutions, and regions through ethical celebration of Indigenous artwork, voices, and stories. Moderated by Jared Katz, Pappalardo Curator of Musical Instruments at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Indigenous Voices is co-sponsored on ThinkND by the Initiative on Race and Resilience, the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art, the College of Arts & Letters Native American Initiatives, and the Native American Alumni of Notre Dame.
For more information visit the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art website.
MoreMeet the Artist: Dakota Hoska
Dakota Hoska (Oglála Lakȟ óta Nation, Pine Ridge, Wounded Knee) serves as the Associate Curator of Native Arts and NAGPRA coordinator at the Denver Art Museum, where she has worked since 2019. Previously, she served as a Curatorial Research Assistant at the Minneapolis Institute of Art where she supported the ground-breaking exhibition Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artists. Hoska completed her MA in Art History in 2019 with a focus on Native American Art History, at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, and received her BFA in 2012 in Drawing and Painting from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Dakota has participated in multiple curatorial programs such as the EPIC International Curatorial Exchange Program sponsored by the Association of Art Museum Curators, the Otsego Summer Seminar sponsored by the Fenimore Art Museum, the Shakopee Mdewakanton Native American Museum Fellowship at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, and the American Indian Museum Fellowship at the Minnesota Historical Society. She currently serves on multiple national advisory councils and frequently writes about and presents on issues related to curating Native North American art collections.
Meet the Artist: Debra Yepa-Pappan
Debra Yepa-Pappan (Jemez Pueblo/Korean) is a visual artist of international acclaim. Her multimedia practice combines digital collage and photography. Her work centers on themes about her mixed-race identity that incorporates symbolic imagery influenced by her cultures on the urban environment. She is committed to changin inaccurate representations of Native people and advocates for the inclusion of Native first voices and perspectives. Yepa-Pappan and the other founding members of the Center for Native Futures came together during the pandemic to make space for a perpetual Native presence in the city of Zhegagoynak (Chicago). The founding members have a combined twenty years of working within the arts community and have all nurtured relationships with tribal communities, Indigenous organizations, galleries, public art spaces, and Indigenous spaces. The Center for Native Futures is the only all-Native artist-led arts non-profit organization in Zhegagonak that promotes the advancement of Native fine arts, fosters contemporary artists, and encourages Indigenous Futurists.
Meet the Moderator: Jared Katz
Jared Katz serves as Pappalardo Curator of Musical Instruments at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. He formerly served as Associate Curator of the Americas and Africa and Assistant Professor of the Practice at the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art at the University of Notre Dame. Katz focuses on shaping the vision for the Museum’s collection of 1,300 musical instruments from around the world, which ranges from ancient times to the late 20th century.
A Slow Look with Yaqui artist Mario Martinez's "Ceremonial Landscape"
Slow looking uses the tools of mindfulness meditation to help you deeply connect with a work of art. Use this video to calm yourself and explore Yaqui artist Mario Martinez’s 1993 painting “Ceremonial Landscape.”
For more information about the painting, please read the article “Only Connect Chemistry and Art,” from the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art Fall 2024 Magazine below.