Contemporary Anishinaabe Art: A Continuation opened at the DIA on Sunday and runs through April 5, 2026. It is the museum's first major Native American art exhibition in over 30 years and one of the largest contemporary Native American shows ever staged in the Midwest. More than 60 artists are in it, working from 21 Anishinaabe tribes.
There are over 90 works on the walls and on the floor. Dr. Denene De Quintal, the DIA's assistant curator of Native American art, organized the show with an advisory council of Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi artists. Nothing about the curation happened without their input.
The wall labels are in English and Anishinaabemowin, an original language of the Great Lakes region. Anyone with tribal-issued ID gets free admission to the museum during the run. The mediums on view stretch wider than most institutions try in a single show.
Basketry. Beadwork. Birchbark.
Clothing. Film. Graphic design.
Jewelry. Painting. Pottery.
Sculpture. Woodwork. There is also augmented reality.
Specific works to find. Marcella Hadden's Jingle Dress, a 2020 photograph from the Saginaw Chippewa artist. Jonathan Thunder's Basil's Dream from 2014.
A birchbark canoe by Ronald J. Paquin. A photograph by Richard Church of his cousin working on a basket.
Indigenous-designed garments by Jillian Waterman, Adam Avery, and Lisa Kennedy. The DIA already holds an extensive Indigenous Americas collection, with material from Central, South, and North America. Director Salvador Salort-Pons frames this show as challenging the stereotype of what Native American art is supposed to look like.
De Quintal is more interested in showing range. The exhibition title pushes against the past tense in much American Indian art history. Lead funding came from the Ford Foundation.
Major support from Jennifer Adderley and the Henry Luce Foundation. Additional support from the DTE Foundation, Andra Rush and the Rush Group, Carlene and Rob Van Voorhies, Peggy and Dave Meador, and Richard Sonenklar and Gregory Haynes. A full illustrated catalogue with essays accompanies the show.
The exhibition runs through April 5, 2026. Free for tri-county residents. Tribal IDs admit free during the run.
5200 Woodward Avenue, Midtown.
