States of Erosion: Reshaping and Reclaiming

The IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA) presents States of Erosion: Reshaping and Reclaiming , on view in the Main Gallery from August 14, 2026, to January 3, 2027. This exhibition offers a focused exploration of contemporary Indigenous art from Canada and the United States, examining how artists engage processes of erosion—material, cultural, and political—while actively reshaping and reclaiming space through light, sound, installation, and two-dimensional works. The exhibition is co-curated by Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery Director and Curator Tania Willard (Secwépemc Nation) and MoCNA Chief Curator Dr. Manuela Well-Off-Man. The artists included in States of Erosion create self-determined spaces or intervene in existing ones, foregrounding the layered impacts of land loss, environmental change, and the ongoing consequences of broken treaties. Erosion is understood not only as a force of disappearance, but also as a condition that reveals, exposes, and makes transformation possible. Many works are grounded in an understanding of land as home, asking how belonging is shaped, disrupted, and renewed. Several artists engage sustainable and alternative approaches to architecture rooted in Indigenous knowledge systems, often incorporating repurposed or reimagined materials. Across the exhibition, works foreground the transmission of knowledge across generations, the use of new forms and technologies to carry ancestral knowledge, underscoring cultural continuity and resilience, while also surfacing obscured histories. Together, these works affirm the persistence and adaptability of Indigenous creative practices in the present. Opening in 2026, the year marking the 250th anniversary of the United States, the exhibition also offers a critical reflection on this national milestone. By foregrounding Indigenous perspectives on land, sovereignty, and historical memory, the exhibition invites audiences to consider how Indigenous histories and futures reframe, reshape, and reclaim dominant narratives. Participating artists include Saif Azzuz (Libyan and Yurok), Natalie Ball (Modoc and Klamath), Rebecca Belmore (Anishinaabe), Kaili Chun (Kānaka Maoli), Gerald Clarke (Cahuilla), Ryan Feddersen (Colville), Nicholas Galanin (Tlingit and Unangax̂), Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill (Cree and Métis), Igavak [Peter Williams] (Yup’ik), Brian Jungen (Dane-zaa), Sonya Kelliher-Combs (Iñupiaq and Athabascan), Tanya Linklater (Alutiiq and Sugpiaq), Cannupa Hanska Luger (Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara, and Lakota), Alan Michelson (Mohawk), Caroline Monnet (Anishinaabe and French), Michael Namingha (Tewa and Hopi), Marianne Nicholson (Musgamakw Dzawada’enuxw), Jeneen Frei Njootli (Vuntut Gwitchin), Sara Siestreem (Hanis Coos), and others. Public programs—including gallery talks, performance and panel discussions with curators and artists, and community workshops—will further engage visitors in conversations about land acknowledgment, histories of land dispossession, environmental concerns, and Indigenous futurity. States of Erosion is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalog with contributions from Indigenous scholars and artists.