Between Two Worlds: Making Sense of Modern Life from Indigenous Perspectives
Hailey-Jade Araujo, Carlin Bear Don’t Walk, Allison Begay,
Scott Strong Hawk Foster, Sierra Henries, Danielle SeeWalker
Curated by Nayana LaFond
October 3rd, 2025 - February 1st, 2026
This group exhibit seeks to highlight the ways in which Indigenous artists are discussing modern ideas and themes while honoring tradition and bringing new things forward. What is the next logical step in the conversation about contemporary Indigenous art beyond “we’re still here”?
Banner image: Carlin Bear Don’t Walk
About the Artists
Hailey-Jade Araujo, an Ojibwe artist from Dighton, Massachusetts, is an enrolled member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians. Her artistic practice is deeply grounded in her heritage, drawing inspiration from the traditions, history, and resilience of her people. Through a unique fusion of classical oil painting techniques and traditional Native beadwork, she creates visually striking works that bridge ancestral knowledge with contemporary expression.
Her art explores themes of cultural identity, the complexities of modern Native existence, and the lived realities of contemporary Indigenous peoples. Each piece serves as both a personal exploration and a public statement, boldly articulating Native experiences, honoring ancestral traditions, and fostering understanding, dialogue, and advocacy for the visibility, support, and empowerment of Native communities.
Carlin Bear Don’t Walk is an award-winning Crow & Northern Cheyenne Artist from the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in Busby, Montana. The passion behind the purpose is wielding the power to inspire and motivate through the context of creation. Giving viewers a glimpse into that Reservation window where I come from. My Art is an expression of authentic narratives, imperative to where I live, blended with energetic pigments, reflecting experiences of my ancestors and relatives. It is true to form, true to self and real on every level because it embodies the essence of my existence from the perspective of my people. I want to represent for my community and be their voice, to tell their story in a way nobody has done it before. I create with the intent to uplift those in need, to build my community up with positivity through expression, action and demonstration.
Allison Begay is a Native American artist originally from Steamboat, Arizona and now currently resides in Milford, Massachusetts. His work explores the relationship between nature and technology through abstract tribal art. Begay received his Associate’s Degree for Lithography at Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Begay works with Adobe Illustrator, acrylic paint, watercolor and oil paint. Allison’s inspirations come from his Navajo Cultural Heritage, his love for his family and music!
Scott Strong Hawk Foster is a Native American photographer whose proud roots include Hassanamisco Nipmuc, Mohegan, and Cherokee lineage. Scott’s images reflect his travels throughout the ancestral homelands of the Native American Peoples of New England. While attending powwows, cultural events, and Indigenous practices that span millennia, Scott’s passion has become highlighting the rich, resilient, and diverse cultures and history of the Indigenous peoples that are still here and living amongst us.
Scott’s images tell a story. They enable the viewer to feel the atmosphere, mood, and emotions of his subject in that moment. By sharing his artistry and life experiences through the lens of a camera, Scott would like to think you can see that he’s a proud father, son, outdoor activity enthusiast, and descendant of a proud, hardworking, and mindful, Indigenous People who respect Mother Earth and all who inhabit it. Scott’s tagline, “Capture the Moment...Share the Experience”©, vividly expresses his philosophy that life is filled with unique and fleeting moments that must be captured and imprinted or they could be lost forever. His past work experience coupled with his creative mindset now allows him to focus on working in and casting light on the people, places, and beautiful traditions of his Indigenous community.
Sierra Autumn Henries has been a multimedia artist for over thirty years and is a member of the Chaubunagungamaug band of Nipmuck (MA) living at the intersection of Passamaquoddy and Penobscot homelands. She and her family care for land and their home in a place that rests at the feet of both Schoodic and Black mountains, and sits alongside Flanders stream, which flows only a short distance to the ocean waters of Flanders Bay.
Consisting primarily of pyrography and birch bark, her art endeavors to honor the beauty of natural color and form while incorporating line work that lives harmoniously with the material. Her Eastern Woodlands culture plays a role in all aspects of her artistic process - from mindset and approach while gathering bark, to the creation and completion of a design. Each piece is meticulously cut, sketched, and burned free-hand, no stencils are used. Every piece of art is unique and comes into being with their own story.
Through intentional process and a reflection of her relationship with land and community (both human and otherwise), Sierra hopes that her art will foster conversation and connection with nature, as well as sparking an interest in others to explore their own creative-self expression.
Her parents are Lisa and Hawk (flutemaker), her sister is Sequan, and her grandparents are Jayne, and Donald who journeyed 2023; Carol, and Little Crow who journeyed 2012; and Theresa Coates.
Danielle SeeWalker is a Hunkpapa Lakota citizen of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and currently resides in Denver, Colorado. She is a multidisciplinary artist, muralist, writer, businesswoman, former Chair Commissioner of the Denver American Indian Commission and most importantly, a mother. In her artistic practices, Danielle works across disciplines to explore the intersections of Native American stereotypes, microaggressions, and colonialist systems, both historically and in contemporary society. Drawing on au courant color palettes, expressionistic art strategies, and her Lakota traditions, SeeWalker spins her work into a contemporary vision to elevate historical perspectives as told from the side not often heard. Her passion to redirect the narrative to an accurate and insightful representation of contemporary Native America is centric to her both her artwork and community involvement. Danielle is also a freelance writer and published her first book titled “Still Here” in 2020. She is also co-founder of “The Red Road Project” which is a photo/film-documentary project that documents what it means to be Native American in the 21st century by capturing inspiring and positive stories of people and communities within Indian Country. In 2022, Danielle was the recipient of the Mayor’s Excellence in Arts & Culture Innovation Award and most recently received an Emmy Award for her work on a documentary piece with Rocky Mountain PBS called “A New Chapter”.
Website: www.seewalker.com
Instagram: @seewalker_ART
Pronouns: she/her/wíŋyáŋ
About the Curator
Nayana LaFond is a curator, arts organizer and multi-disciplinary artist and human rights advocate living and working in Massachusetts. She holds an associates degree in Visual Arts from Greenfield Community College and is currently a Frances Perkins Scholar studying Art History and Museum Studies at Mount Holyoke College.
Nayana has been a curator and arts organizer for over 25 years including as founding primary curator for the Whitney Center for the Arts where she remained supervising curator for 8 years. In addition to curating and managing a long list of galleries and other arts spaces in massachusetts she serves on the executive board of directors for Artist Organized Art and Stavros Center for Independent living.Nayana is an advisory member for the Native Youth Empowerment Fund sits on boards and committees for several other arts and cultural organizations. Nayana was the 2023 recipient of the Katharine F. Erskine Award in Art and culture. Her personal artwork has been featured in publications, on television and in movies including the cover of Art New England’s January-February 2024 edition.
Nayana is best known for her ongoing painting series titled “Portraits in RED: Missing & Murdered Indigenous Peoples Painting Project” which is currently on display at the D’Amour Museum of Fine Art in Springfield MA, the Hibulb Cultural Center in Tulalip WA, the Mitchell Museum of the American Indian in Chicago IL and will also be at the Danforth Museum for the Fall of 2025. She has had the pleasure of speaking about human rights and art at distinguished institutions such as MIT, Harvard, Smith College, The University of Vancouver WA among others. Her human rights advocacy work through the arts has made significant contributions to raising awareness and promoting change in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Nayana’s curatorial work and personal work often confront topics related to identity and human rights. Nayana is an enrolled citizen of the Metis Nation of Ontario.