Exhibitions

Between the Lines: Prison Art & Advocacy seeks to re-humanize the incarcerated. Through a combination of in-gallery artworks, fresh multimedia pieces (interviews with returned citizens and allies, art-making demonstrations, etc.) and community-co-developed events, this exhibition will explore prisoners’ rights, recidivism / systemic oppression, and transitional justice.

Supported by the CVS Health Foundation, Solidarity Now! is a Smithsonian Institution traveling show based on a National Museum of African American History and Culture exhibition. It investigates the factors surrounding the 1968 Poor People’s Campaign, which was a six-week, multi-ethnic, live-in demonstration at the nation’s capital, called Resurrection City. Organized by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. prior to his assassination, the movement focused on poverty as a human rights issue. A New Mexico delegation, led by land grant activist Reies López Tijerina, formed part of the Western Caravan from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C. Visitors will see photographs, objects, documentaries, and a 3D printed model of Resurrection City.

Exhibition located in the Herzstein Gallery.

The horizon line is both a point of connection—between sky and earth—and a separation of space. Horizons: Weaving Between the Lines with Diné Textiles explores the connections between weaving and photography as modes of engagement with place in the American Southwest. By situating these two media in conversation, this exhibition examines each as a way of seeing and knowing Dinétah, the Navajo homeland. Building upon previous and ongoing collaborations with the Navajo Nation, this landmark exhibition brings land into view as an “object” or site of inquiry, both historically and into the present.

Ghhúunayúkata / To Keep Them Warm explores the art of the parka, a garment made for survival in the harsh environments where Alaska Native peoples live and thrive.

The New Mexico History Museum, with support from the New Mexico Magazine, proudly presents Enchantorama! New Mexico Magazine Celebrates 100 Years. Learn why and how the publication began, view a selection from over one thousand magazine covers, and enjoy seeing over two hundred photographs published in the magazine since 1923. Visitors will enjoy a mid-century office space—replete with a rotary telephone—as they peruse previous editions of the magazine or type up an article on a 1970s typewriter. Join us for a free public opening reception in our main lobby, hosted by the MNMF Women’s Board, on Sunday, April 16, 2023 from 1-3pm, with free admission.

Photo Credit: Tourists at Mesa Encantada near Acoma Pueblo, 1954. Photograph by Harvey Caplin. Palace of the Governors Photo Archives Neg. No. 058264

Along with exploring exhibition themes, aesthetics, materials and artists, visitors will have the opportunity to provide their input in this initial iteration of the upcoming exhibition Between the Lines: Prison Art and Advocacy.  This six-month exhibition will ask visitors to reflect on individual pieces and installation themes through a series of prompts, talk back boards and a dialogue lounge, while offering opportunities for community members to share their personal stories related to the show.

A series of community dialogues is also planned for the space, which in concert with visitor input, will help inform the final exhibition set to open in the Cotsen Gallery in 2024.

Purse, artists unknown, 2018-2020, Cibola County Correction Center, Milan, New Mexico. Made from chewing gum wrappers. MOIFA Collection, gift of Santa Fe Dreamers Project.

This purse was made by an asylum-seeking transgender artist, for wear in a prisoner-organized fashion show inside this ICE detention center.