The Block Museum of Art’s exhibition, tentatively titled “Woven Being: Indigenous Art Histories of Chicagoland,” is in development and is scheduled to open in early 2025 in conjunction with Art Design Chicago. In their approach, the planning team is employing Indigenous curatorial strategies “that emphasize collaboration, reciprocity, and sustained dialogue with an expanding, intergenerational community of Indigenous knowledge sharers and non-Indigenous allies.” In October 2022, the Block Museum’s Terra Foundation Curatorial Research Fellow Lois Biggs (Cherokee Nation and White Earth Ojibwe) wrote, for the museum’s blog, a personal account of an exhibition research trip.
The Woven Being curatorial team traveled to Michigan where they visited several tribal cultural centers, toured exhibitions that demonstrate community-involved approaches to curatorial practice, and met with several Native artists in their homes and studios.
“The Woven Being team is grateful for our experiences in Michigan and for the relationships we were able to build and deepen. Our conversations throughout the trip—over shared meals and long drives, with family members and knowledge sharers—have set key groundwork for our continued process.”
―Lois Taylor Biggs, Assistant Curator and Terra Foundation Research Fellow, the Block Museum of Art
Woven Being: Indigenous Histories of Chicagoland will be on view January 24–July 13, 2025, at the Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University.
