Adorned Futures: Fabric, Form, and Indigenous Resistance, opened in the Art and Design Gallery on February 25. The exhibition brings together resident artists from Ma’s House and BIPOC Art Studio Inc., Shinnecock Indian Nation artisans, and FIT students and faculty to explore contemporary art and design as expressions of cultural resistance, Indigenous futurism, and environmental storytelling. Rooted in the community-centered practices of Ma’s House, this exhibition features 60–70 works of wearable art, beadwork, performance, sculpture, painting, photography, and video. Together, these works honor Indigenous knowledge systems and position creativity as an act of sovereignty, resistance, and intergenerational exchange.
Ma’s House is led by Indigenous artist Jeremy Dennis. The project began in June 2020 and serves as a communal art space based on the Shinnecock Indian Reservation in Southampton, New York. The family house, built in the 1960s, now features a residency program for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) artists, a shared art studio, and a communal library. Ma’s House hosts an array of art and history-based programs for tribal members and the broader regional community.
Joel Werring, associate professor of Fine Arts, is a faculty organizer and collaborator on the exhibition. “Adorned Futures centers artistic practice through making, with artists determining how their stories, materials, and knowledge are shared,” he said. “The exhibition brings artists, students, and collaborators together through conversation, exchange, and learning. My hope is that through this exhibition, students will gain a deeper understanding of sovereignty and how art helps keep culture alive.”
“The exhibition is about the ability to retain your culture after we’ve been through assimilation and colonization and, sometimes, our traditional forms have been outlawed or unavailable with natural materials,” Dennis added. “So that’s definitely part of the resilience. And then resistance. Some of the artists in the show are doing work about countering invisibility and countering erasure and marginalization.”
The current FIT students who contributed work are Fine Arts majors Jade Koroma and Amina Safy, and Jewelry Design majors Yasmine David and Jenissi Ochieng. The FIT alumni involved in the show include Fine Arts majors Xavier Ramirez Checo, Madelyn Kellum, and Bella Dupont. Also contributing are Fine Arts faculty Carla Edwards, Ashley Teamer, Sue Willis, and Suikang Zhao. Glen Cummings of the Communication Design Pathways Department was instrumental in the design and fabrication of visual and utilitarian structures within the installation.
Featured artists are Joshua Obawole Allen, Lio Bonaccio, Élan Cadiz, Tecumseh Ceaser, Xavier Checo, Dominick Cocozza, Dennis RedMoon Darkeem, Yasmine David, Jeremy Dennis, Bella Dupont, Tammie Dupuis, Carla Edwards, Cass Gardiner with Bird x Bird, Juan C. Giraldo-Penagos, Yanyan Huang, Grace Jeffers, Jamie John, Madelyn Kellum, Jade Koroma, Planet Art Life, Noel Bassam Mohammad Maghathe, Ella Mahoney, JJ McDonald, Demarcus McGaughey, Omar Monroy/El Techichi Jewelry, Patricio “Pachi” Muruchu, Tracey Gardner-Pace, Jacoub Reyes, Beau Bree Rhee, Heather Rogers, Amina Safy, Niama Safia Sandy, Denise Silva-Dennis, Regina Smith, Nadonis Tarrant, Tohanash Tarrant, Waban Tarrant, Ashely Teamer, Adrienne Terry, Rachel Valdez, Jenissi Vuyanzi, Kris Waymire, Sue Willis, Anangookwe Wolf, Chris M Yee, and Suikang Zhao.
Adorned Futures is on display through March 29. The FIT Art and Design Gallery is located at the northwest corner of Seventh Avenue and West 27th Street and is open daily from 9 am to 5 pm. Find more details at fitnyc.edu/gallery.