Empowering Art: Indigenous Creativity and Activism from North America’s Northwest Coast
Our new Universal Ticket allows access to our entire gallery. This ticket operates on a ‘Pay If and What You Can’ basis. Upon arrival, please go to gallery reception where our Universal Ticket is available.
No pre-booking necessary. If you would like to make a group booking or have additional access needs, please contact us on scva@uea.ac.uk or 01603 593199.
We recommend allowing 90 minutes to fully explore the exhibition.
This exhibition took place from 12 March to 30 July 2023
Empowering Art was a ground-breaking exhibition of rich but rarely seen artworks, bringing together exceptional contemporary and historical pieces from across the Northwest Coast of North America.
Developed in close consultation with Indigenous artists and community leaders from across the Northwest Coast, Empowering Art showcased the talent of their artistic and cultural creations on a scale unseen in the UK since the 1970s.
Bringing a contested past into the realities of the present, the exhibition told the story of a coastline with distinctive artistic and cultural traditions, where creative exchange is visible in historical objects but also resonates through contemporary art. The exhibition included works from renowned Indigenous artists breaking the lens of history, such as Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun, Marianne Nicolson and Susan Point, as well as a new generation of artists reclaiming the power of the present, including Morgan Asoyuf, Phil Gray and Danielle Morsette.
Image: Bear Mother Drum, Morgan Asoyuf, 2018, Elk hide drum, acrylic paint © Courtesy of the Artist