Indigenous people are central to the story of popular culture in the Western Hemisphere, and popular culture is important to many Indigenous people and experiences. This exhibition, drawn from the Newberry’s growing collections for American Indian and Indigenous Studies, shares four centuries of Indigenous creators, athletes, activists, and fans engaged with pop—from pamphlets to comic books, and from daguerreotypes to video games.

Cara and Diego Romero: Tales of Futures Past brings together artwork by acclaimed contemporary artists Cara Romero (Chemehuevi) and Diego Romero (Cochiti). Organized by the Figge Art Museum, this nationally traveling exhibition features 18 of Diego Romero's thought=provoking pottery pieces and lithographs, 20 of Cara Romero's evocative photographs, including from her Indigenous Futurism series, and a new collaborative piece created exclusively for this exhibition. 

Bold Women is an expansive exhibition that presents the visionary work of women artists. The show emphasizes the essential contributions of artists from diverse backgrounds, especially women of color, LGBTQ+ artists, and artists of intersecting identities.

With more than 75 works in many mediums, the exhibition explores the ways that women have pushed the boundaries of art and spurred critical social and cultural changes across generations and geographies. The artists create change in part by using innovative materials, bold concepts, and vital experimentation that have also altered the development of modern and contemporary art. At the heart of the exhibition is the idea of boldness, presented as a defining attribute of the featured works and an indicator of the artists’ fearless efforts to alter institutional systems, dispute dominant historical narratives, and envision and enact equity and access.

Bold Women was organized by Curator Susan Earle and co-developed with advisors Kimberli Gant and Wanda Nanibush, and assisted by advisors Marla A. Jackson and Rose Bryant, along with KU students Lena Mose-Vargas, Sarah Dyer, Sara Johnson, and Maggie Vaughn.

Colors hold symbolism and meanings already established by Western societies. However, for Native and Indigenous people, the symbolisms are diverse and hold different meanings. The color red carries great significance for Indigenous and Native communities. It is a sacred color used to describe our origin stories, sacred land and blessings of fire for warmth, cooking and protection. Reclaiming Red explores the colonial implications of the color redand demonstrates how Indigenous people use it for healing, peace, sacredness, unity and Hózhó (a Diné Bizaad word for balance and harmony).

This exhibition showcases 31 artists who illuminate darkness through diverse media, ranging from storytelling to scientific experimentation, photography, fiber optics, film, and sculpture. Their works expand awareness on personal, universal, and spiritual levels.

Refractions: Contemporary Indigenous Art is a collection of contemporary artworks by Native andIndigenous artists from or connected to the Los Angeles region. Their work provides a deeper understanding of the present-day experience of Native and Indigenous communities, influenced by pop art, graffiti, nostalgia, and the beauty found within “the in-between” spaces of identity. Curated by Joel Garcia and Kenneth Lopez of meztli projects, an Indigenous-based arts and culture collaborative.

Aqua Art Miami is the premier destination for art aficionados to procure works by young, emerging and mid-career artists. Throughout the years, the fair has continued to solidify itself as a completely unique art fair, consistently staying true to its signature relaxed yet energetic vibe. A roster of well respected international galleries will showcase the fresh artists' works  in the intimate exhibition rooms, which open into the beautiful courtyard of the classic South Beach hotel.

As partners in both life and artistic dialogue, Cara Romero (Chemehuevi) and Diego Romero (Cochiti Pueblo) address the quandary of the Anthropocene not by passing judgement or despairing, but rather by bearing witness to the complexities of life in this period of radical transition. They view the Anthropocene through the lens of cultural landscapes, their histories, and the futures that might inform them. This show brings together nineteen works by the Romeros featuring their artistic dialogue and shared consideration of the Anthropocene and is the first exhibit to focus on their artistic partnership in itself.

A new exhibition featuring 23 legendary Indigenous artists will open at City Hall’s Gallery One on Thursday, October 10 with a soft opening from 3 to 5 p.m. NA(RRA)TIVE is the first exhibit that examines the city’s Indigenous public art collection and challenges it from a moral and artistic perspective. Both the opening and exhibition are open and free to the public.

SLOW WATER, a summer group exhibition opening August 15th 4-8pm. Join us at Cara Romero Gallery in downtown Santa Fe for a stellar line up of new work by some favorite artists.

Image by Lehuauakea

Kūmauna, 2024, Maui earth pigments hand-painted on kapa (barkcloth)

Cara Romero is a member of the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe, and was raised between the contrasting settings of the reservation in Mojave Desert, California and the urban sprawl of Houston, Texas. Romero’s identity informs her visceral approach to representing cultural memory, collective history, and lived experience from a female Native American perspective.

Romero is focused on researching historical and contemporary narratives of identity and heritage. By staging theatrical compositions infused with dramatic color, she takes on the role of storyteller, using contemporary photographic techniques to depict the modernity of Indigenous culture, illuminating Native worldviews alluding to the supernatural in everyday life.

The exhibition is divided into three sections—Native California, Imagining Indigenous Futures, and Native Woman.

For decades, the Gorman Museum of Native American Art has hosted artists who advance Indigenous visual sovereignty – understood as the assertion of Indigenous autonomy through visual media. Photographs are now central to the museum’s collection of contemporary art. Themes that are prevalent in the collection relate to social and environmental justice, connection to homeland, and Indigenous empowerment in the contemporary world. This exhibition presents highlights from the collection by more than two dozen Indigenous artists from North America, Aotearoa, and Australia.

Celebrating Complexities showcases the work of four talented artists who work across many different mediums, including photography, sculpture, painting, drawing, printmaking, beading, quillwork, and basketmaking. Hailing from diverse backgrounds, geographies, and tribal affiliations, they are at different stages in their careers. Each artist explores and celebrates complex ideas in their work, looking at the specific to elucidate the universal. They emphasize their connections to their families, their ancestors, and their communities, presenting an Indigenous worldview that encompasses the past, the present, and the future. They are reclaiming materials and techniques, narratives and identities, and their work tells rich contemporary stories about people and cultures that are vital and thriving.

Western Values explores the ideas of the ‘Old West’ (its history, its misconceptions, and its tropes) and aims to re-examine how the West can be visually interpreted now, in terms of both its historical import and its contemporary alignments, through a diverse range of contemporary art practices.

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS: Cara Romero, Dana Claxton, Edie Winograde, Ishi Glinsky, Julie Orser, Kyla Hansen, Manuello Paganelli, Pascual Sisto, River Garza, Rosson Crow

Cara Romero: The Gathering presents the behind-the-scenes process of my photographic process during a week-long study that informs one final image centered on uplifting the sacred role Native women hold in the world.

Enter into the vivid worlds of Native photography, as framed by generations of First Nations, Métis, Inuit, and Native American photographers themselves. Presenting over 150 photographs of, by, and for Indigenous people, “In Our Hands” welcomes all to see through the lens held by Native photographers.

Cara Romero is a unique storyteller who tells stories through the lens of her camera. Her work exemplifies the theme of the 20th Annual Indigenous Film and Arts Festival: The Good Life. Some of her photos celebrate The Good Life, some depict the aftermath of attacks on it.

Curated by artist  Jaune Quick-to-See Smith (Citizen of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Nation), this exhibition brings together works by an intergenerational group of nearly 50 living Native artists practicing across the United States. Their powerful expressions reflect the diversity of Native American individual, regional, and cultural identities. At the same time, these works share a worldview informed by thousands of years of reverence, study, and concern for the land.

OXY Arts
4757 York BoulevardLos Angeles, CA, 90042
United States

This exhibition highlights the work of artists in the Southern California inland region whose work incorporates mythologies, iconographies, and cultural codes. These artists rework historical and contemporary symbols and narratives to create new visual imaginings.