Image: Minnesota Museum of American Art, Saint Paul
The Minnesota Museum of American Art is giving visitors a final chance to see 'Queering Indigeneity', which closes August 16 in Saint Paul. The museum’s latest notice describes the exhibition as one that has drawn repeat visits from audiences, including one viewer who called it “A beautiful whirlwind of love!” The show was also named one of the Top Ten Exhibitions of 2025 by the Minnesota Star Tribune and MPLSart.com.
According to the museum, 'Queering Indigeneity' honors the vision and diversity of Two-Spirit, Native queer, and gender-expansive relatives from across the Upper Midwest. The exhibition page describes it as a multi-year, multi-generational project centered on 2-Spirit, Native queer, and gender-expansive artists in the region. In the museum’s framing, the project seeks to amplify Indigenous voices and present both Indigenous and non-Indigenous visitors with a more comprehensive and complex story of the area’s art and artists.
The exhibition is presented in the Nancy and John Lindahl Gallery. The museum’s website says the project began in 2023 through a partnership with community curator Penny Kagigebi, and that the collaboration emphasizes intergenerational transfer of knowledge and artmaking. It also states that the museum’s community-guided approach helped pave the way for the exhibition, which is rooted in radical commitment to Indigenous practices that support artists.
The exhibition page identifies 16 regional artists involved in the project: Sharon Day, Ryan Young, Delia Touché, Awanigiizhik Bruce, Niibawi Ajijaak, Awanaabe Syverson, Zoe Allen, Naawakamigookwe Lera Hephner, Noah Polk, Madeline Treuer, Chewie Mason, Asin-Gwiiwizens, Sav Jonsa, Giiwedin, Nick Metcalf, and Penny Kagigebi. The site also provides artist statements and artwork listings that span beadwork, photography, quiltwork, textile, print, ledger-based work, LED-based sculpture, and installation, underscoring the range of media included in the exhibition.
Several of the museum’s publicly listed interpretations focus on identity, ceremony, community, and reclamation. Ryan Young’s works, for example, address representation and empowerment for Queer Indigenous and Two-Spirit people, while Awanigiizhik Bruce’s practice is presented as spanning traditional and ceremonial forms, mixed media, and multimedia work. Delia Touché’s statement describes an ongoing effort to reclaim agency over narratives and assert visual sovereignty. The exhibition page also presents Sharon Day’s work as part of a practice centered on water, community, and messages for future generations.
The museum’s online calendar shows that the exhibition remains active in its final weeks with free public tours scheduled for August 8 and August 15, both from 2 to 3 p.m. It also lists a free monthly tour of 'Here, Now' on August 9. The calendar notes a prior public open house for 'Queering Indigeneity' on June 13, when the museum invited visitors to celebrate Pride and the exhibition.
The closing date lands within a broader programmatic frame at the Minnesota Museum of American Art, which describes itself as an inclusive community arts center for the Twin Cities and notes that it partners with artists, schools, libraries, and cultural organizations around the state. The museum’s current installation of works from its permanent collection, 'HERE, NOW', is shown in the renovated galleries, while 'Queering Indigeneity' continues in the Nancy and John Lindahl Gallery through August 16.
