On February 27, 2025, the Department of Art History & Archaeology and American Culture Studies presented Indigenous Perspectives II: Museums, Stewardship, and Native American Art. This was the second iteration of the Indigenous Perspectives panels, which grew out of collaborations within the Indigenous St. Louis Working Group (funded by the Divided City initiative in the Center for the Humanities).
This year, we invited three influential Indigenous curators to campus to discuss their curatorial approaches, recent projects, and critical issues in the field. Dr. Heather Ahtone (Chickasaw/Choctaw), Director of Curatorial Affairs at First Americans Museum (FAM) in Oklahoma City, presented this year’s keynote address, “Indigenous Philosophy as Curatorial Methodology.” Dakota Hoska (Oglála Lakȟóta Nation, Pine Ridge, Wounded Knee), who was recently named the Inaugural Curator of Native American Art at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, spoke about her work curating the recent exhibition “Sustained! The Persistent Genius of Indigenous Art” at the Denver Art Museum, where she previously served as Associate Curator of Native Arts and NAGPRA coordinator. Dr. Meranda Roberts (Yerington Paiute/Chicana) is a Visiting Professor in the Art History Department at Pomona College and spoke about her work co-curating “Native Truths: Our Stories. Our Voices” at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. The panel was complemented by tours of two exhibitions including works by Native American artists at the Kemper Art Museum by curators Dana Ostrander and Meredith Malone. The three visiting speakers also met with undergraduate and graduate students, toured St. Louis Art Museum’s collection with Dr. Alex Marr, Associate Curator of Native American Art, and visited Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site in Illinois and Sugarloaf Mound in St. Louis.
A link to the recording of the event may be found here:
This event was planned by the Indigenous Perspectives Committee, including Prof, Liz Childs; Prof Paige McGinley; Brooke Eastman, (PhD candidate in Art History and Archaeology & AMCS), and curators Dana Ostrander and Meredith Malone (Kemper). This program was supported through generous funding from the Department of Art History & Archaeology and the Program in American Culture Studies, both in Arts and Sciences, and was co-sponsored by the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum.
Visiting Cahokia Mounds, the day after the panel
Dr. Heather Ahtone (Chickasaw/Choctaw), Director of Curatorial Affairs at First Americans Museum (FAM) in Oklahoma City.
Dakota Hoska (Oglála Lakȟóta Nation, Pine Ridge, Wounded Knee), recently named the Inaugural Curator of Native American Art at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC.
Dr. Meranda Roberts (Yerington Paiute/Chicana), Visiting Professor in the Art History Department at Pomona College
