Online Series: Art, Artists, and Abstraction in 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.

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.

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.