Centering Indigenous Voices in the Arts

As the public center for visual arts at Tufts University, the Art Galleries create a dynamic learning space through a responsive program of contemporary art exhibitions, events, collecting, and scholarship. TUAG’s exhibition program aims to shift the canon and re-narrativize the archive by showcasing artists traditionally marginalized in the art world. Teaching and learning in the galleries is object-driven and interdisciplinary, encouraging students to engage with their full selves and be open to multiple perspectives.

Join Claudia Mattos Avolese, Senior Lecturer, Visual and Material Studies; Mary McNeill, Assistant Professor, Studies in Race, Colonialism, and the Diaspora; and Lily Mengesha, Assistant Professor, Theatre, Dance and Performance Studies for a tour and discussion of Véxoa: We Know, organized by curator, activist, and educator Naine Terena, which brings together the work of Indigenous artists of Brazil to explore the histories and political power of contemporary art. Together, we will discuss how this exhibition works to center Indigenous voices in the arts through its curatorial design and explore the potential of the academic museum to serve as a nexus for wider campus conversation.