Opening reception
Ian Kuali’i (Kanaka Maoli/Native Hawaiian – Shis Inday/Mescalero Apache)
Ma Ka Ho‘ona‘auao Ā Ma Ka Ihe Paha – By Education Or By Spear (Monument/Pillar Series), 2022
Latex paint, site-specific commission, dimensions variable, image courtesy of the artist

August 18 – December 30, 2022
Exhibition Closed

Self-Determined: A Contemporary Survey of Native and Indigenous Artists is a group exhibition featuring thirteen artists creating profound work in various media including film, installation, photography, sound, beadwork, and studio arts. Self-Determined centers the artist and their practice, the social and political issues important to them, their relationships to community, their mode of expression, and the ways in which they identify. 

Participating Artists

Jordan Ann Craig (Northern Cheyenne)
Jeremy Dennis (Shinnecock)
Demian DinéYazhi’ (Dine, born to the clans Naasht’ézhí Tábąąhá [Zuni Clan Water’s Edge] & Tódích’íí’nii [Bitter Water])
Carly Feddersen (Okanogan, Arrow Lakes, German, English)
RYAN! Feddersen (Okanogan, Arrow Lakes, German, English)
Anna Hoover (Norwegian/Unangax̂)
Ursala Hudson (Tlingit)
Chaz John (Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, Mississippi Band Choctaw, European)
Jeff Kahm (Plains Cree) (1968-2021)
Ian Kuali’i (Kanaka Maoli/Native Hawaiian – Shis Inday/Mescalero Apache)
Erica Lord (Tanana Athabascan, Inupiaq, Finnish, Swedish, English and Japanese)
Hoka Skenandore (Oneida, Oglala Lakota, Luiseno, Chicano)
Dyani White Hawk (Sičangu Lakota)

All of these artists are engaged with issues that pervade contemporary art dialogue today—such as engaging with their environment, exploring mythologies, reworking traditions, and utilizing technology as a tool of preservation in both formal and conceptual investigations at the intersection of customary Native techniques or Indigenous philosophies. The title Self-Determined references a Nixon-era policy that gave tribes within the United States the ability to make decisions for themselves about cultural renewal and reclamation, governance, economic development, and education—the only United States government policy not based on assimilation or genocide.


About the Curators

Danyelle Means currently serves as the first Indigenous Executive Director of the Center for Contemporary Arts (CCA) in Santa Fe, New Mexico, a position she has held since 2021. She has previously held leadership roles at the Institute of American Indian Arts and the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian. Means was raised on the Rosebud Reservation and is a proud member of the Oglala Lakota tribe in South Dakota. Throughout her career, she has centered advancement and support for BIPOC professionals and artists.

Kiersten Fellrath is the Carl & Marilynn Thoma Art Foundation’s Programs Coordinator at the Center for Contemporary Arts (CCA) based in Santa Fe. She is passionate about creating space and opportunities for emerging artists and their communities. She serves on the board of the Fire Island Artist Residency (FIAR). Her former role as Curator and Vice President of the JPMorgan Chase Art Collection included responsibilities in curatorial, acquisitions, education, programs and collection management.

She received her MFA in Contemporary Art from Christie’s Education, New York, but considers her time working with artist Jaune Quick-to-See Smith to have been the most formative. She is of European (Scottish, Irish, Scandinavian) descent and lives in Nambe Pueblo, NM with her partner.


Self-Determined is part of Indigenous Celebration NM 2022, a statewide initiative dedicated to elevating Indigenous Arts and Culture worldwide.


Supported by Institute of American Indian Arts, Santa Fe