Woven Being: Art for Zhegagoynak/Chicagoland

Zhegagoynak, the place now known as Chicagoland, is a vital center for Indigenous art, past and present.

Through the perspectives of four collaborating artists with connections to Zhegagoynak—Andrea Carlson (Grand Portage Ojibwe/European descent), Kelly Church (Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Tribe of Pottawatomi/Ottawa), Nora Moore Lloyd (Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe), and Jason Wesaw (Pokagon Band of Potawatomi) —Woven Being explores confluences that are continuing to shape Indigenous creative practices in the region and beyond.

The Chicagoland region is a longstanding cultural and economic hub for Indigenous peoples, including the Council of Three Fires— the Ojibwe, Potawatomi, and Odawa—as well as the Menominee, Miami, Ho-Chunk, Sac, Fox, Kickapoo, and Illinois nations. People from many Indigenous nations call the region home today, and the city of Chicago has the third-largest urban Indigenous population in the United States.

Despite this rich history, Indigenous voices have often been excluded from Chicago's art histories. This silence is harmful. Guided by Indigenous collaborations, priorities, and voices, the exhibition foregrounds the perspectives of Indigenous artists currently based in the city and those from nations forcibly displaced from the area in the nineteenth century. 

Collaborating artists have partnered with The Block to create “constellations” of their own artwork and historical and contemporary artworks, primarily by Indigenous artists of the region. Overall Woven Being will present more than 80 works by 33 artists that speak to the diversity of Indigenous art, materials, and time, including several new and commissioned works and installations. Selections highlight themes we have identified in dialogue with diverse project advisors: kinship between materials, relations across regional landways and waterways,  and the weaving together of past, present, and future.

Seen together, the exhibition works form intimate and interwoven stories that resist monolithic storytelling. Instead of a comprehensive overview of regional art, Woven Being integrates four Indigenous perspectives of Chicagoland’s layered art histories. Such perspectives are central not only to understanding Chicago and its region, but also to understanding the widely interconnected Indigenous stories that have been, and continue to be, woven across the entirety of Turtle Island (North America). 

Pronounce Zhegagoynak 

(Via Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Government)

Join us for the exhibition opening celebration Saturday, February 1 2PM.

Project Team

Woven Being project development was led by a collaborative team including Kathleen Bickford Berzock (Associate Director of Curatorial Affairs), Jordan Poorman Cocker (Kiowa), Terra Foundation Guest Co-Curator); Janet Dees (former Steven and Lisa Munster Tananbaum Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art);  Erin Northington (Susan and Stephen Wilson Associate Director, Campus and Community Education and Engagement); Dan Silverstein (Associate Director of Collections and Exhibition Management). The project Terra Foundation Fellows are Marisa Cruz Branco (Isleta Pueblo) and Teagan Harris (Cherokee Nation).  

At Northwestern, we are grateful for the participation of the Center for Native American and Indigenous Research and its affiliates. We are also grateful for the participation of Indigenous knowledge sharers, including artists, community leaders, and scholars, and non-Indigenous allies, who are contributing to the exhibition process and to Woven Being’s presentation at Northwestern University.

For more information about Native American and Indigenous research at Northwestern University visit Center for Native American and Indigenous Research (CNAIR)

Note: We have used the preferred spelling provided by the artist for the names of Indigenous nations.

Image (l to r): Dan Silverstein, Jason Wesaw, Kathleen Bickford Berzock, Andrea Carlson, Kelly Church, Nora Moore Lloyd, Jordan Poorman Cocker, Janet Dees, Erin Northington.

Credits

Woven Being is part of Art Design Chicago, a citywide collaboration initiated by the Terra Foundation for American Art that highlights the city’s artistic heritage and creative communities. Lead support for Woven Being is generously provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art. Major support is provided by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. This project is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts , The Joyce Foundation, and by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council. Additional generous support is provided by the Sandra L. Riggs Publication Fund and the Alumnae of Northwestern University.

Art Design Chicago

Art Design Chicago is a special citywide collaboration and series of events and exhibitions that highlight  the city’s unique artistic heritage and creative communities. An initiative of the Terra Foundation for  American Art in partnership with artists and arts organizations across the city, Art Design Chicago seeks  to expand narratives of American art with an emphasis on the city’s diverse and vibrant creative cultures  and the stories they tell. Learn more at artdesignchicago.org.  

The Terra Foundation for American Art, established in 1978 and having offices in Chicago and Paris, supports organizations and individuals locally and globally with the aim of fostering intercultural dialogues and  encouraging transformative practices that expand narratives of American art, through the foundation’s grant  program, collection, and initiatives. Learn more at terraamericanart.org.

Project Stories