Natchiq | Onkeehq | Isuwiq: Indigenous Artists Honor the Seal
On view April 4–October 25, 2026
Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design (RISD)
Providence, Rhode Island
https://risdmuseum.org/
Across many northern coastal cultures, people maintain longstanding relationships with the wild beings that inhabit the waters they call home. For many Indigenous communities across Arctic and subarctic regions, seals have long sustained daily life—providing food, clothing, tools, and artistic inspiration. Within many Indigenous knowledge systems, the seal is understood as kin with whom humans hold a reciprocal relationship of care.
All seafaring peoples hold relationships to the wild beings living in the waters they call home. Many Indigenous peoples maintain deep ancestral connections with seals. This exhibition witnesses those relationships across many coasts, honoring everything seals give to us.
[Image: Linda Infante Lyons (Alutiiq/Sugpiaq), Isuwiq, Guardian of the Sea, 2025. Alaska Native Museum. Sovereignty Collection. © Linda Infante Lyons. Image courtesy of the artist.]
