Winter 2019

Ancestral Connections: A Constellation of Contemporary Artists Show Their Ties to Their Native Cultures

A new NMAI exhibition in New York brings together contemporary Native artworks with past influences spanning the Western Hemisphere. The pieces vary greatly in their forms and origins, yet their creators share a common thread: all take inspiration from their Indigenous roots.

Winter 2019

In the sculpture “The Look of Confi dence Was Apparent (As He Was About to Strike),” an Inuit hunter holds a “kakivak,” a type of harpoon, with a shaft made of moose bone and a silver trident tip. His knife in his hand is a replica of the full-size, traditional knives his grandfather taught him how to make. Looking at the hunter’s face, “you have that feeling that he knew he was going to get it,” says sculptor Michael Massie (Labrador Inuit/Métis/Scottish).