Oct 17, 2023

Critical Indigenous Studies Initiative Event: Painted: Our Bodies, Hearts, and Village

On Tuesday October 24th, from 2:30-4:00pm, please join the Critical Indigenous Studies Initiative and Colby Museum of Art for a faculty and staff workshop about practices of decolonization at the Art Museum. We will discuss the artworks, Indigenous-led curatorial practices, and collaborative methodologies that inform the exhibit Painted: Our Bodies, Hearts, and Village. Participants are invited (but not required) to read preparatory material before attending the event. The event is intended both for people just beginning to think about decolonization as well as with those more familiar with decolonization practices. We will continue our conversation at a Museum sponsored happy hour at Front & Main from 5:00-6:00pm.

Please register here: https://forms.gle/otWAZifee5dnWNCHA

Please find reading material here: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1koKSnao1ikURXqBcITWmLz3FkA84Y2s_

Painted: Our Bodies, Hearts, and Village emphasizes the sovereignty of Pueblo peoples and the land they steward, inviting viewers to consider how art produced in the US Southwest reflects, or diverges from, the lived experiences of Native community members. The exhibit centers Pueblo perspectives on the contexts that informed the social and cultural landscape of Taos from 1915 to 1927, when the Taos Society of Artists (TSA), a group of Anglo-American painters, was active. The exhibition and its associated programs ask: What can be learned about self-representation, intertribal exchange, settler colonialism, and the causes of climate change by foregrounding Pueblo and other Native voices? And, relatedly, what enduring myths about Native people and Westward expansion might be unlearned through this multivocal approach?

Practicing Decolonization at the Museum poster (same text as post)