The Figge Art Museum in Davenport, Iowa, is presenting "Cara and Diego Romero: Tales of Futures Past," a traveling exhibition featuring the work of photographer Cara Romero (Chemehuevi) and potter Diego Romero (Cochiti). The show highlights the artistic dialogue between the married couple, whose individual practices merge popular culture, ancestral traditions, and the supernatural to explore Indigenous identity, historical narratives, environmental racism, and ancestral evolution. The exhibition is supported by the Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation.
This exhibition matters because it centers Indigenous perspectives in contemporary art, showcasing how two leading Native artists use storytelling to assert agency and address the complexities of past, present, and future Indigenous lifeways. By pairing Cara Romero's photographic futurism with Diego Romero's ceramic narratives, the show offers a nuanced view of identity that resists erasure and challenges mainstream historical accounts, contributing to broader conversations about representation and decolonization in the art world.