For millennia, Indigenous communities throughout the Americas have maintained profound and expansive relationships with the natural world. These same communities are now some of the most vulnerable to climate crises, from wildfires and droughts to the overextraction of natural resources—threats against which generations of activists are combatting and organizing. This #EarthDay, we are highlighting artworks that speak to Indigenous understandings of the natural world and that address the threat environmental change poses to Indigenous livelihoods.
You can see these works and more on view in Climate in Crisis: Environmental Change in the Indigenous Americas.
Mississippian. Engraved Conch Shell, 1200-1500 C.E. Conch shell, pigment, Falcon warrior Brooklyn Museum, By exchange, 60.53.1. Creative Commons-BY ⇨ Native Alaskan. Engraved Whale Tooth, late 19th century. Sperm whale tooth, black ash or graphite, oil. Brooklyn Museum. Creative Commons-BY ⇨ Maya. Tetrapod Bowl with Lid, 350-450. Ceramic, pigment, Overall with Lid. Brooklyn Museum. Creative Commons-BY ⇨ Gail E. Tremblay (Onondaga-Micmac, born 1945). When Ice Stretched on for Miles, 2017. 16mm film, white film leader, gold and silver braided plastic thread. Brooklyn Museum © artist or artist's estate ⇨ Preston Singletary (Tlingit, born 1963). Guardian of the Sea, 2004. Glass. Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Fairfield-Maxwell, Ltd., by exchange , 2004.2. © artist or artist's estate ⇨ Moche. Fox Runner Effigy Vessel, ca. 400-700. Ceramic, pigments. Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Mrs. Eugene Schaefer, 36.332. Creative Commons-BY ⇨ Installation views of Climate in Crisis: Environmental Change in the Indigenous Americas. Brooklyn Museum, February 14, 2020–January 10, 2021. (Photos: Jonathan Dorado)
