A survey of contemporary Indigenous abstraction spanning a century of artistic practice
Teresa Baker, Knife River, 2024. Yarn, buckskin, artificial sinew, and willow on Astroturf, 160 x 271.8cm. Acquired through the generosity of the Acquisitions Circle.
The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston (ICA) is presenting ‘An Indigenous Present’, a thematic exhibition examining one hundred years of Indigenous artistic practice across North America. The exhibition, which opened on 9 October 2025, brings together works by fifteen artists whose practices engage abstraction as a means of articulating personal and collective narratives, place-based knowledge and cultural continuity.
Co-organised by artist Jeffrey Gibson and independent curator Jenelle Porter, the exhibition traces a continuum between early twentieth-century pioneers and contemporary practitioners. Through painting, sculpture, installation, photography and moving image, the participating artists explore abstraction not as a purely formal strategy but as a language through which Indigenous histories, relationships to land and systems of knowledge can be expressed.
The exhibition builds on Gibson and Porter’s collaborative research into Indigenous abstraction and expands on themes explored in their publication of the same name. By foregrounding both historical figures and contemporary artists, the presentation proposes a broader reconsideration of abstraction within Indigenous artistic practice.
Abstraction as a language of place, memory and cultural continuity
Across the exhibition, artists mobilise abstraction to reflect on the interconnected relationships between land, history and cultural identity. Works by George Morrison and Teresa Baker evoke the landscapes of their respective ancestral homelands through colour, texture and spatial composition, foregrounding land as both subject and conceptual ground.
Other artists employ serial forms and repetition to construct narratives that unfold across multiple works. Kay WalkingStick’s ‘Chief Joseph Series’, first developed in the 1970s, presents a grid of paintings dedicated to the Niimíipuu / Nez Perce leader Chief Joseph. Nearby, Dakota Mace’s photographic chemigrams draw on Diné design traditions and heritage to generate a constellation of abstract forms that resonate with historical patterns and visual codes.
By placing historical and contemporary works in dialogue, the exhibition proposes abstraction as a living and evolving language capable of carrying Indigenous cultural knowledge across generations.
Generational dialogues and curatorial structure
The exhibition unfolds across several thematic sections that situate emerging artists alongside more established figures. This curatorial approach highlights how artists across generations engage shared formal concerns while responding to distinct cultural and historical contexts.
Within a single section, sound becomes an abstract medium through which stories, prayers, and musical structures are explored. Works by artists including Raven Chacon and Sky Hopinka draw attention to the sonic dimensions of abstraction, extending the exhibition’s thematic scope beyond visual form.
The presentation also includes site-specific commissions that extend the exhibition into the museum’s architectural spaces. An immersive sound installation by Raven Chacon fills the ICA’s Founders Gallery overlooking Boston Harbour, while Caroline Monnet’s installation for the museum’s Sandra and Gerald Fineberg Art Wall incorporates commercial building materials arranged in fractal compositions inspired by Anishinaabeg design traditions. These works emphasise ideas of interconnectedness, transmission and shared knowledge.
Indigenous abstraction across generations
By bringing together artists working across multiple generations, ‘An Indigenous Present’ positions Indigenous abstraction as a dynamic and evolving field of artistic practice. Rather than situating Indigenous art within fixed historical categories, the exhibition emphasises experimentation, material exploration and conceptual innovation.
The participating artists include Teresa Baker, Raven Chacon, Sky Hopinka, Sonya Kelliher-Combs, Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill, George Longfish, Dakota Mace, Kimowan Metchewais, Caroline Monnet, George Morrison, Audie Murray, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Mary Sully, Anna Tsouhlarakis and Kay WalkingStick. Together, their works demonstrate the multiplicity of approaches through which Indigenous artists engage abstraction to articulate histories, relationships to place and contemporary experience.
‘An Indigenous Present’ opened at the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston, Boston, on 9 October 2025 and runs until 8 March 2026. For more information, please visit ICA.
