Power, Presence, and Future: American Indian Pop Art in Action

Indigenous Peoples in the U.S.—American Indians, Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian), and Alaskan Natives—have long been misrepresented through stereotypes that confine them to a mythic past. From photographer Edward Curtis’s staged portraits in the 19th and early 20th centuries to Hollywood’s casting of them as supporting characters in their own stories, such as Dances with Wolves and Killers of the Flower Moon, these portrayals push Indigenous peoples to the margins and erase their presence today.

The artists in this exhibition shatter these distortions by drawing on Pop Art’s saturated color, humor, irony, and interest in mass culture. Their work creates and claims spaces for Indigenous agency, authorship, and aesthetic power, challenging what Pop Art can do and what viewers are conditioned to see.

Tom Farris and Nico Williams take aim at “Rich Indian” tropes. Susan Folwell channels comic book aesthetics to celebrate Indigenous strength and satire. Jeffrey Gibson, Cara Romero, and Virgil Ortiz craft vibrant visions of Indigenous futurisms. Wendy Red Star interrogates identity appropriation with incisive visual storytelling. And, Fritz Scholder and Edgar Heap of Birds confront the legacy of colonial image-making through provocative forms.

Their work is joyful, fierce, layered, and defiantly contemporary. This exhibition invites audiences to experience Indigeneity as it exists now: dynamic, brilliant, and deeply rooted in power, presence, and the future.

Power, Presence, and Future: American Indian Pop Art in Action is organized by Courtney Lewis, Ph.D., Crandall Family Associate Professor, Department of Cultural Anthropology and Inaugural Director, The RISE-US: Research for Indigenous Studies & Engagement in the United States program, Duke University.

This exhibition is made possible by the J. Horst & Ruth Mary Meyer Fund.