The Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, has opened "Edmonia Lewis: Said in Stone," the first major retrospective of the 19th-century sculptor Edmonia Lewis, who was of Black and Indigenous (Mississauga-Tuscarora) descent. The exhibition displays 30 of her Neoclassical white marble sculptures alongside archival materials and works by other artists, organized into four thematic rooms that explore antislavery, Indigenous artistic worlds, her studios in Rome, and religion and mythology. Co-organized with the Georgia Museum of Art, the show emphasizes Lewis's dual heritage without conflating the two identities, featuring extensive text and quotes from the artist herself.
This exhibition matters because it corrects a long-standing historical oversight, giving Lewis—the first woman artist of Black and Indigenous descent to achieve widespread international acclaim—her first major museum retrospective more than a century after her death. By centering her voice and collaborating with Black and Native scholars, the show offers a nuanced understanding of her life and work, challenging the art world to reckon with the contributions of marginalized artists. It also highlights how Lewis used her sculpture to comment on American political events, such as emancipation, making her practice both artistically and socially significant.