India has announced that emerging artists from its Indigenous tribes will represent the country at the 2026 Venice Biennale, marking the nation's first national pavilion since 2019. The news was delivered by Union Culture and Tourism Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat at a conference on conservation and tribal arts, highlighting a renewed government focus on Indigenous artistic heritage.
India has announced that emerging artists from its Indigenous tribes will represent the country at the 2026 Venice Biennale, marking its first national pavilion since 2019. The news was delivered by Union Culture and Tourism Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat at a conference on conservation and tribal arts. India's presence at the prestigious exhibition has been inconsistent, with only two previous national pavilions in 2011 and 2019, though 12 Indian artists were featured in the main exhibition of the 2024 Biennale.
The Museum of the Cherokee People has launched "Unrelenting: Cherokee People and the American Revolution," a landmark exhibition marking the 250th anniversary of the United States. The show juxtaposes 18th-century historical artifacts, such as weaponry and archival treaties, with newly commissioned works by 14 contemporary Cherokee artists. Curated by Dakota Brown, Evan Mathis, and Brandon Dillard, the exhibition challenges traditional American nationalist mythologies by centering Indigenous perspectives on the Cherokee American War and the complexities of sovereignty.
The Missoula Art Museum has launched "Buffalo Is Our Good Medicine," a collaborative exhibition by artists Aspen and Cameron Decker. The show features a diverse array of media, including traditional ledger art, sculpture, hide paintings, and multimedia installations that center on the buffalo's vital role within tribal communities. Many of the works utilize hides harvested from the Yellowstone herd, blending historical storytelling with contemporary artistic practices.
The Paradise Center for the Arts in Faribault has opened a new exhibition featuring the work of artists Rocky Casillas Aguirre and Ivete Vaz, alongside student artwork. Aguirre's series "You Are the Universe" uses colorful characters to explore themes of anxiety, mindfulness, and emotional awareness, while Vaz's paintings depict the cultural heritage and daily life of the Gaucho, the horsemen of the South American Pampas.
The Ucross Art Gallery hosted an artists’ reception for its latest exhibition, "Resilience," which showcases the work of the 2025 Ucross Fellowship for Native American Artists recipients. Curated by Marwin Begaye, the show features a diverse range of media including sculpture by Gina Herrera, mixed-media works by Wade Patton, and visual and performance art by Sarah Ortegon HighWalking, alongside photography and poetry by writer Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle. The event was highlighted by a collaborative performance involving the Jingle Dress Dance and live woodblock printing.
Mvskoke Waters Gallery, the first tribally owned art gallery in the Tulsa metropolitan area, announces its grand opening on December 13, 2025, in Jenks, Oklahoma. The inaugural exhibition, titled "Mvskokvlke: Road of Strength," features works by over 20 Muscogee artists and is co-curated by Muscogee artist Bobby C. Martin, who describes the project as an honor and a labor of love.
The Paradise Center for the Arts is currently hosting its annual Student Art Exhibition, featuring a diverse range of works from local youth. The show includes pieces from students at Waterville-Elysian-Morristown Schools, Faribault Middle School, and the Faribault Area Learning Center, showcasing various mediums and styles developed in the classroom.
Valley Center Art Gallery is presenting “Native Art,” a special exhibition at the Valley Center Public Library in California from February 11 to March 23. The show features works by Native artists including Marti L Daglio (Kumeyaay, San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians) and Tiffany A. Wolfe (Navajo/Oglala Lakota), highlighting local tribal cultures such as the Luiseño and Kumeyaay, as well as Indigenous peoples from across the United States and around the world.
Dubai-based Indian Folk Art Corridor (IFAC) held its first-ever exhibition in Mumbai, titled 'Harshit — Experience the Joy of Indian Arts' (April 6–11). The show featured 30 artists—15 from the UAE and 15 from India—curated by IFAC founder Vidisha Pandey. It showcased diverse Indian folk and tribal art forms including Kalighat, Madhubani, Sohrai, Bhil, Warli, Pichwai, Miniature, Jogi, Manjusha, and Tholu art. Dignitaries such as Maharashtra Minister Ashish Shelar, singer Anup Jalota, and actress Sadhna Singh attended. Several artworks were acquired, including a Tholu piece by Shelar and two works by Shoma Banerjee purchased by Jalota; Pandey's works were placed at the Ministry of Culture in Mumbai.
The Choctaw Nation is hosting its Spring Art Exhibition, a dedicated showcase featuring the diverse creative outputs of Choctaw artists. The event highlights traditional and contemporary works, ranging from beadwork and basketry to painting and sculpture, providing a platform for tribal members to share their heritage with the public.
Was wir wegwerfen, verschwindet nicht
The Museum Ostwall at the Dortmunder U in Dortmund has opened a new exhibition titled "Müll – die globalen Wege des Abfalls" ("Waste – The Global Paths of Garbage"), curated by Christina Danick and Michael Griff. Featuring around 50 international artworks from the 20th and 21st centuries, including two newly commissioned pieces, the show uses art to explore waste as material, motif, and aesthetic strategy. Key works include Kader Attia's "Los de Arriba y Los de Abajo," which addresses power imbalances through the lens of garbage in Hebron, and historical pieces by César Baldaccini, Arman, and HA Schult. The exhibition also highlights contemporary issues such as e-waste, global waste trafficking, and the environmental impact of industrial nations on the Global South.
The Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor, Maine, is repatriating 17 items—including a human tooth and funerary objects such as tools, animal hides, and fabric—to the Wabanaki Nations, a confederation of four local tribes (Penobscot Nation, Passamaquoddy Tribe, Mi’kmaq Nation, and Houlton band of Maliseet Indians). The objects, many excavated by Warren K. Moorehead in the late 19th century, passed through the R.S. Peabody Museum, the Bangor Historical Society, and the Abbe Museum, with some lost due to undocumented loans. A Field Register notice from the National Park Service, published September 11, 2025, details their complex provenance. The repatriation is set to occur on or after October 14, 2025.
The Southern Plains Indian Museum in Anadarko, Oklahoma, announced the opening of its 2025 fall exhibition, "Newly Acquired Contemporary Works from the Southern Plains Indian Museum Collection," running from September 8, 2025, through January 8, 2026. The exhibition features two- and three-dimensional works by 14 Native American artists from the Southwest, Northern Plains, and Southern Plains, including Jack Anquoe Jr., Beth Bush, Nocona Burgess, and others, showcasing oil and acrylic paintings, ledger drawings, beadwork, quillwork, silverwork, pottery, and textiles.
Artist Paribartana Mohanty's solo exhibition "I Rescued Speed Altogether" at Delhi's Shrine Empire gallery presents 12 paintings and three moving-image works created over eight years of documenting the demolition of the Kathputli art colony, a historic slum cluster in west Delhi known for its street performers. The works, mounted on found objects like glue cans and plastic, focus on the objects and landscapes left behind after demolitions, with human figures absent from the canvases. Mohanty's title comes from his three-year-old son's triumphant statement after learning to pedal a bicycle, which the artist sees as an absurd phrase fitting for what he calls the "absurd acts" of demolition.