12/05/2025
Queering Indigeneity is a multi-year, multi-generational project that celebrates the vision and diversity of #2-Spirit , Native q***r, gender expansive artists in the Upper Midwest. In seeking out and amplifying voices of Indigenous artists and culture bearers, the M, guided by Penny Kagigebi, hopes to influence the types of artists who are supported, seen, and centered at the museum, and to show both Indigenous and non-Indigenous visitors a more comprehensive and complex story of this region’s art and artists.
Beginning in 2023, the M’s partnership with Kagigebi has emphasized opportunities for intergenerational transfer of knowledge and artmaking, such that community is nurtured among artists, and sustaining mentorships develop. The M’s legacy of community-guided collaboration paved the way for a project like Queering Indigeneity, which responds to Kagigebi’s leadership on radical commitment to Indigenous practices that support artists.
There’s a confluence of beautiful potential when 2-Spirit, Native q***r, and gender expansive relatives fully embody their gifts. However, disruption lingers in the form of boarding school-infused homophobia and health disparities in Native communities, and in the past has erased this demographic from traditional practices, ceremonies, and stories. 2-Spirit medicine carries tremendous potential for healthy and vibrant Tribal communities. Queering Indigeneity offers one pathway for
2-Spirit cultural reclamation.
Queering Indigeneity artists include Sharon Day, Ryan Young, Delia Touché, Awanigiizhik Bruce, Niibawi Ajijaak, Awanaabe Syverson, Zoe Allen, Naawakamigookwe Lera Hephner, Noah Polk, Madeline Treuer, Chewie Mason, Asin-Gwiiwizens, Sav Jonsa, Giiwedin, Nick Metcalf, and Penny Kabibe. ***r
