Indigenous voices reshape how we see our world and place within it

Britain is about to see its biggest showcase of modern Native North American art, as Hold to This Earth arrives in Yorkshire. Selected by Sarah Coulson and sourced from Santa Fe’s esteemed Tia Collection, the exhibition brings together pieces by artists from more than 35 tribal nations. Their pieces come at a particularly charged moment, as the United States prepares to mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence—a document rooted in colonial history that Indigenous peoples have long resisted. Rather than celebrating that narrative, these artists offer a strong alternative perspective, investigating millennia-old traditions, the exploitation of Native peoples, and pressing current challenges from climate change to water rights. Their work questions how we perceive our connection with the natural world and humanity’s position in it.

A major showcase arrives in Yorkshire

The introduction of Hold to This Earth marks a pivotal turning point for British spectators unfamiliar with contemporary Native North American creative practice. For generations, Indigenous creative work has been underrepresented in established exhibition spaces, relegated to ethnographic museums or completely ignored in preference for European and American traditional art historical narratives. This exhibition significantly undermines that established order, presenting creations from seasoned and emerging artists whose creative output encompass various media including sculpture, ceramics, textiles, and installation. The impressive scope of the exhibition—the most comprehensive ever mounted in Britain—demonstrates a long-overdue acknowledgement of these perspectives and the crucial insights they offer to important worldwide dialogues.

Exhibition organiser Sarah Coulson has curated a collection that refuses simple classification or tokenism. Rather than displaying Indigenous art as historical object or anthropological curiosity, the show positions these artists as contemporary practitioners grappling with immediate concerns: environmental destruction, water rights, cultural self-determination and the consequences of colonialism. Several works have been specially commissioned for Yorkshire, reflecting a dedication to conversation with artists and audiences. This methodology converts the display from a static presentation into an active conversation, encouraging visitors to reassess their own relationship to land, community and the natural world through Indigenous perspectives that extend back millennia.

• Artists represent more than 35 separate Indigenous nations across North America
• Works examine climate impacts, water rights, and environmental justice matters
• Several major pieces were recently commissioned specifically for this show
• The show contests established narratives of American history and independence

Modern art drawing from age-old customs

What distinguishes the artists in Hold to This Earth is their remarkable ability to integrate ancestral knowledge into boldly modern forms. Rather than treating Indigenous traditions as remnants of the past, these practitioners harness them as active, transforming languages positioned to confront today’s most pressing crises. Rose B Simpson’s imposing Aztec mother goddess, crafted from raw clay, embodies this synthesis—the ancient deity rises from the very earth that sustains us, a tangible expression of humanity’s reliance upon nature. Similarly, Raven Halfmoon’s three-dimensional pieces draws on Caddo origin stories whilst incorporating materials and techniques that feel urgently present.

This methodology contests Western preconceptions about the separation between “traditional” and “contemporary” art. The artists resist such restrictive binaries, instead demonstrating that Indigenous creative practices have consistently been dynamic and attuned to their moment. Their work suggests that returning to ancestral wisdom goes beyond nostalgia or regression, but rather accessing intellectual and spiritual frameworks essential for imagining new possibilities. By anchoring their work in millennial-old belief systems, these artists offer alternatives to extractive and exploitative dynamics that have shaped Western engagement with land and resources.

Combining heritage with contemporary style

Jeffrey Gibson embodies this creative fusion, blending Native American dance, music and ceremonial dress with references to club culture and striking DayGlo palettes. His work shows that Indigenous identity and expression does not need to be confined to prescribed aesthetic categories. Instead, Gibson and his peers access their cultural repositories whilst participating in global popular culture, technology and contemporary social movements. This eclecticism reflects lived experience—Indigenous communities exist within modern-day realities whilst maintaining deep connections to ancestral practices and worldviews.

Diego Romero’s ambitious ceramic vessel additionally showcases this boundary-defying approach. Its palette suggests ancient Greek pottery, yet depicts comic book-style characters influenced by a retro science fiction movie envisioning Mayans journeying to space. Such playful recombinations aren’t merely decorative; they declare Indigenous peoples’ claim to inhabit all creative registers and cultural domains. These artists refuse to be confined by outside expectations, instead claiming total creative autonomy to pull from whatever influences appeal to them whilst sustaining their particular cultural perspectives and preoccupations.

Rebuilding our bond with the Earth

A connecting theme runs through Hold to This Earth: the artists’ deep understanding of humanity’s relationship with the natural world. Rather than viewing the Earth as a resource to be exploited, these Indigenous creators present different approaches rooted in millennia of ecological stewardship and sacred exchange. Their work challenges the extractive mindset that has characterised Western industrial society, offering instead a vision of parity between people and planet. This isn’t merely artistic commentary; it represents a working approach critically important as environmental crises intensify globally.

The tangible substances themselves convey this message. Rose B Simpson’s monumental Aztec mother goddess grasps the natural clay from which she emerges, manifesting a physical bond to soil and origin. Raven Halfmoon’s figure, evoking Caddo creation myths of people emerging from underground realms, appears shaped from primeval mud itself. These works convert substances into statements about belonging and interdependence. By bringing to light the Earth’s role in their creation, the artists prompt people to reconsider their own connection to the ground beneath their feet and the structures supporting all life.

• Indigenous frameworks present environmentally responsible approaches to Western models of extraction with nature
• Artists work with natural materials to emphasise direct link to soil and origin stories
• Ancient spiritual practices offer intellectual resources for conceiving different environmental futures
• The exhibition demonstrates that environmental knowledge and modern artistic practice are inseparable
• These works challenge viewers to re-evaluate our position integrated within rather than superior to natural systems

Campaigning and commemoration through creative expression

The artists featured in Hold to This Earth engage directly with socio-political issues, channelling contemporary struggles into compelling artistic expressions. Yatika Starr Fields’s sculptures, constructed using recovered tents that formerly provided refuge to thousands of protesters, bear witness to the resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline—a conflict that posed a risk to the water supply of the Standing Rock Sioux. By transforming these modest materials into artworks, Fields converts protest into permanence, ensuring that acts of resistance are preserved from erasure. Her practice illustrates how Indigenous artists regain authority by capturing their own histories rather than letting external voices shape by others.

This dedication to activism spans diverse artistic practices within the exhibition. Many artists integrate past suffering and present inequities into their work, rejecting the comfort of disengaged artistic expression. Their pieces serve as both record and means for change, engaging with communities whilst compelling broader audiences to confront difficult realities about colonial history, economic abuse and continued land theft. By placing such work at the core of an international exhibition, the artists assert their power to shape stories about their own experiences and futures. reclaiming cultural authority historically withheld from Indigenous peoples.

Remembering those whose voices were suppressed

The exhibition’s continued presence represents an act of remembrance for Indigenous peoples whose histories have been deliberately suppressed or marginalised. Works like Zoë Urness’s No More Stolen Sisters explicitly confront the epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women, guaranteeing their names and stories stay in view. Through art, these creators honour those whose voices were stolen, transforming galleries into places for collective mourning and resistance. This commitment to remembrance goes further than individual works, running through the entire exhibition as a powerful statement about whose histories matter and warrant being shared.

Collective resources, joint accountability

A striking theme within Hold to This Earth is the artists’ deep understanding of humanity’s relationship with the environment. Rather than viewing the Earth as a commodity for extraction, these Indigenous makers demonstrate alternative ways of existing in parity with the land. Rose B Simpson’s monumental Aztec mother goddess directly clutches the natural material from which she is formed, whilst Raven Halfmoon’s figure—crafted from richly layered ancient earth—draws upon Caddo origin stories of coming forth from an subterranean world. These works embody a material and spiritual relationship with the soil that questions Western extraction methods.

Curator Sarah Coulson underscores this fundamental focus: “Artists examine how our exploitative commercial relationship with the Earth might be reconsidered.” The show reveals that Indigenous cultural expressions offer not merely stylistic choices, but conceptual systems for environmentally conscious existence. By treating resources as revered instead of disposable, these artists encourage viewers to reassess humanity’s place within natural environments. Their vision transcends community limits—as one artist notes, “We have a collective sky and stars”—proposing that environmental responsibility is a shared necessity rooted in Indigenous knowledge.