This article was provided by the Baltimore Museum of Art.
The artwork, histories and perspectives of Native artists, scholars and community members are at the heart of “Preoccupied: Indigenizing the Museum,” a wide-reaching project seeking to address the historical erasure of Indigenous culture by arts institutions while creating new practices for museums.
“‘Preoccupied: Indigenizing the Museum’ centers on Native voices and elevates an often overlooked community within encyclopedic museums, particularly on the East Coast,” said project co-curator Dare Turner (of the Yurok Tribe), curator of Indigenous Art at the Brooklyn Museum. “This project is a first for Baltimore in that it challenges museums like the Baltimore Museum of Art to make space for new ways of thinking, learning and being. It insists that Indigenous lifeways have existed as long as memory, and they continue today through the practices, awareness, and art of contemporary Native people.”
The expansive “Preoccupied” project extends into the galleries and beyond with public programming, nine exhibitions, staff training and new interpretive texts for artworks throughout the BMA. The curatorial team worked closely with Native artists, curators and Baltimore area residents on a community advisory panel to frame the questions this project would ask. In the earliest stages of the initiative, all “Preoccupied” project participants were invited to an “unconference,” a weekend-long retreat with the exhibitions’ curators, where they discussed Native visibility in the face of colonial oppression.
“‘Preoccupied’ radically centers Native perspectives in a space that has often overlooked or erased that community: encyclopedic museums,” said Turner. “It challenges all museums to interrogate their colonial roots and make space for new ways of thinking, learning and being.”
“Preoccupied” emphasizes that Native people have created meaningful art since time immemorial and that Native communities thrive to this day. Beyond its large-scale exhibition program, the BMA’s celebration of Native art and artists offers a framework that the museum can carry forward for future exhibitions and community engagement.
The nine exhibitions are on view as follows:
Dyani White Hawk: Bodies of Water (Apr. 21- Dec. 1, 2024)
Finding Home (May 12-Dec. 1, 2024)
Enduring Buffalo (May 12-Dec. 1, 2024)
Illustrating Agency (May 12-Dec. 1, 2024)
Don’t Wait for Me, Just Tell Me Where You’re Going (May 12-Dec. 1, 2024)
Caroline Monnet: River Flows Through Bent Trees (May 12-Dec. 1, 2024)
Laura Ortman: Wood that Sings (July 17, 2024-Jan. 5, 2025)
Dana Claxton: Spark (Aug. 4, 2024–Jan. 5, 2025)
Nicholas Galanin: Exist in the Width of a Knife’s Edge (Sept. 1, 2024-Feb. 16, 2025)
Founded in 1914, the Baltimore Museum of Art inspires people of all ages and backgrounds through exhibitions, program, and collections that tell an expansive story of art, challenging long-held narratives and embracing new voices. General admission is free so that everyone can enjoy the power of art.
For information about the BMA, visit artbma.org.
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