Join us for a thought-provoking, live online series exploring the artistic contributions of modern and contemporary artists featured in the An Indigenous Present exhibition. Learn from leading artists and historians from the ICA, Harvard University, and an innovative art studio in Alaska over three engaging sessions which offer deeper insight into how and why abstraction has been and continues to be an important artistic device for many artists working today.    

Pre-registration for this online series is required in order to receive web links. Presentations will be live on Zoom and will not be recorded. Registration includes all three live sessions. 

Week 1: February 4 | The Origins of An Indigenous Present

What does it take to bring a landmark traveling exhibition to life? ICA Ellen Matilda Poss Director, Nora Burnett Abrams, will offer her thoughts on the importance of An Indigenous Present to the museum. Exhibition co-curator Jenelle Porter will share behind-the-scenes insights on organizing this ambitious and deeply collaborative initiative.

Week 2: February 11 | Mary Sully and Modernism

Philip J. Deloria, Leverett Saltonstall Professor of History at Harvard University, will revisit his great aunt Mary Sully’s (Susan Mabel Deloria) (Yankton Dakota; born 1896 in Standing Rock Reservation, ND; died 1963, Omaha, NE) innovative work as an artist in the early 20th century and his ongoing efforts to preserve it a century later.

Week 3: February 25 | Living and Working in Alaska

Artist Sonya Kelliher-Combs will share how images and materials from her home in Alaska, including organic materials such as animal gut and hair, continue to inspire her creative practice. She will also highlight her efforts to amplify the work of other contemporary artists from the region.

An Indigenous Present is organized by Jeffrey Gibson and Jenelle Porter, guest curators, with Erika Umali, Curator of Collections, and Max Gruber, Curatorial Assistant.

This exhibition is supported in part by Mathieu O. Gaulin, the Leonard and Ruth Horwich Family Foundation, Peggy J. Koenig, Kim Sinatra, the Fotene Demoulas Fund for Curatorial Research and Publications, and an anonymous donor.

With warmest thanks, we gratefully acknowledge the generosity of the ICA’s Avant Guardian Society in making this exhibition possible.