Reclaiming Identity | Guest Curated by Dakota Mace
Aug 26, 2022 - Jan 8, 2023
Reclaiming Identity
GUEST CURATED BY DAKOTA MACE
Aug 26, 2022 – Jan 8, 2023
Main and Mezzanine Galleries, 1st and 2nd Floors
Open six days a week. Learn more.
25 renowned Indigenous artists from across the U.S. and Mexico tell stories of identity and share what it means to take control and preserve their culture. Through the themes of borders, family lineage, shared histories, colonization, and assimilation, the artists respond to the complexity of blood quantum in their artwork and demonstrate how they are reclaiming their Indigenous cultures.
Blood quantum is a method of measurement used to determine Indigenous identity by percentage or affiliation to a tribe implemented by the U.S. federal government in the 1900s.
Admission is free to museum members. Learn about museum membership, starting at $15/year.
Thank you to our exhibit partner!
Field Trips & Group Tours Visitors of all ages and abilities are welcome to experience TMA with guided discussion and engaging art projects.
Upcoming Exhibit TMA Talks
The Artists
Cinthya Santo-Briones (Nahua)
Gabriela Morac (Zapoteca)
Henry Payer (Ho-Chunk)
Ian Kuali’i (Hawaiian/Apache)
Isa Gagarin (Chamorro/Filipino)
Israel Campos (Chicano)
Jamie Chavez (Tarahumara/Tohono Oohodam) (Header Image)
Jamison Chas Banks (Seneca-Cayuga/Cherokee/Ioway)
John Hitchcock (Comanche/Kiowa)
Jordan Craig (Northern Cheyenne)
Keith Secola Jr. (Northern Ute/Anishinaabe)
Luvia Lazo (Zapoteca)
Luzene Hill (Eastern Band Cherokee)
Lynne Allen (Hunkpapa tribe of the Teton Lakota)
Maggie Thompson (Fond du Lac Ojibwe)
Mikayla Patton (Oglala Lakota/Isleta Pueblo)
Monty Little (Diné)
Patrick Dean Hubbell (Diné)
Philip Vigil (Jemez Pueblo/Jicarilla Apache)
Rapheal Begay (Diné)
Sarah Sense (Choctaw/Chitimacha)
Skye Tafoya (Eastern Band Cherokee/Santa Clara Pueblo) (Above Left)
Tito Mendoza Ruiz (Zapoteca)
Tom Jones (Ho-Chunk)
Valaria Tatera (Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa)
Dakota Mace
Dakota Mace speaks with WPR!
Dakota Mace (Diné) is an interdisciplinary artist whose work focuses on translating the language of Diné history and beliefs. Mace received her MA and MFA degrees in Photography and Textile Design at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and her BFA in Photography from the Institute of American Indian Arts. As a Diné (Navajo) artist, her work draws from the history of her Diné heritage, exploring the themes of family lineage, community, and identity. In addition, her work pushes the viewer’s understanding of Diné culture through alternative photography techniques, weaving, beadwork, and papermaking.
She has also worked with numerous institutions and programs to develop dialogue on the issues of cultural appropriation and the importance of Indigenous design work. She is currently a grad advisor in painting and drawing at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the photographer for the Helen Louise Allen Textile Center and the Center of Design and Material Culture.
Her work as an artist and scholar has been exhibited nationally and internationally at various conferences, collectives, museums, and galleries, including: Textile Society of America, Weave a Real Peace, Indigenous Photograph, 400 Year Project, Wright Art Museum, Contemporary Arts Center, Kemper Museum of Art, and the Wallach Art Gallery.
