What stories shape Chicago’s Native art scene? Who holds them, and where do we look to learn more?
The Block is proud to share Art for Zhegagoynak: A Resource Guide to a Local History by Jacqueline Lopez, 2024-2025 Interdisciplinary Graduate Fellow— chronicling seventy years of Indigenous-led artmaking, mentorship, and community building in the region now known as Chicagoland.
Developed in dialogue with artists, scholars, and culture workers, the guide highlights key organizations, exhibitions, and initiatives from 1953 to the present. From the founding of the American Indian Center to the launch of the Center for Native Futures, it traces how Indigenous artists have shaped cultural life in the city—often beyond the scope of the mainstream art world. These histories reveal a powerful lineage of creativity, resistance, and care.
As Lopez writes:
“Through art, Indigenous Chicagoans have created spaces of belonging, asserted their own notions of Native identity, and worked to ensure more opportunities for future generations.”
This resource was created in connection with the exhibition Woven Being: Art for Zhegagoynak/Chicagoland on view at The Block January 25 – July 13, 2025. This guide will also appear as a chapter in the exhibition’s publication, releasing in July 2025. The publication is published by The Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University, produced by Marquand Books, Seattle , designed by OTAMI, Montreal, and distributed by the University of Washington Press. [Order here]
Header Image: Indian Land Dancing (wide section), Foster Avenue underpass, date unknown. Chicago Public Art Group Photo Archives.
