Diné (Navajo) artist Eric-Paul Riege has opened a new exhibition, “ojo|-|ólǫ́,” at Brown University’s David Winton Bell Gallery, on view through December 7. The show features large soft sculptures and weavings that engage with Diné mythology, Euro-American trading posts, and the concept of authenticity in Indigenous art. Riege also selected five objects from Brown’s Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology, including a loom with an unfinished textile, which he recontextualized by separating the loom from the textile and adding handwritten notes. The exhibition is co-curated by Thea Quiray Tagle and Nina Bozicnik, and will travel to the Henry Art Gallery in 2026.
The exhibition matters because it directly challenges how museums display and preserve Native American cultural objects, arguing that tools like looms are meant to be used, not stored inertly. By bringing contemporary Indigenous art into dialogue with anthropological collections, Riege questions the commercial trade in “authentic” Native crafts and highlights the ongoing agency of ancestral objects. The show also underscores the role of performance and collaboration between museums and descendant communities in fostering cultural revival, making it a significant intervention in museum practice and Native art discourse.