IN-PERSON Barcelona. Section B

Abstract

Reclaiming Home: Contemporary Seminole Art exhibition and publication marked The Ringling’s first presentation of contemporary art by Native American artists with ancestral, historical, and present-day connections to Florida. Seminoles are part of the five Southeastern nations—along with the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Muscogee (Creek)—who were forcibly relocated by the US government in the nineteenth century to present-day Oklahoma and other southern states after the passage of the Indian Removal Act of 1830. The exhibition expanded the conceptual framework of Native American art made in Florida today, provided a fuller understanding of complex issues within the Seminole diaspora, and celebrated the expanse of Indigenous imagination. The exhibition featured over one hundred artworks created after the 1970s by artists working in various media and disciplines whose art—often made from the materials sourced locally, such as clay and wood, as well as recycled fabric and familial photo albums—is rooted in ancestral memory, traditional skills, and intergenerational knowledge systems. The works on view also explored innovative modes of expression
to produce fresh art forms and dialogue about pressing issues that impact Native communities today, including identity and representation, land and language preservation, health, and maintaining traditional ways of knowing. The exhibition amplified a variety of urban and rural, traditional and modern, community and individual Native American perspectives, while illustrating the crucial historical and contemporary influence that Native artists have contributed to visual arts discourse, social commentary, and community wellness. Reclaiming Home celebrated the powerful expressions of resilience and resistance of Native American peoples, bringing greater awareness to Sarasota’s community about enduring Native presence. How can museums better support Native visual sovereignty?