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GRINNELL -- The Stewart Gallery in the Grinnell Arts Center welcomes the first comprehensive exhibition of a collection of 1999 portraits of members of the Meskwaki Nation by Mt. Vernon-based photographer Robert Campagna. This exhibition, A Moment in Time: Portraits of the Meskwaki at the Turn of the 21st Century, is a collaborative project between the Meskwaki Historic Preservation Department, Campagna and the Grinnell Area Arts Council.
The project carries historical significance in relationship to early twentieth-century photographs of the Meskwaki people, including those taken by Duren H. Ward for the State Historical Society of Iowa during a period when Indigenous people were often documented under the assumption that their communities and cultures would eventually disappear. The 1999 photographs provide a meaningful contrast to that narrative by documenting the continued presence, community and cultural vitality of the Meskwaki people nearly a century later.
An opening celebration will take place from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 8. At 6 p.m., there will be a flute performance by Romeo Buffalo and remarks by Meskwaki Historic Preservation Director Johnathan Buffalo, Suzanne Wanatee-Buffalo, Tribal Historic Preservation Officer Tieranny Keahna and photographer Campagna.
The exhibit will be on display in Stewart Gallery from Oct. 1-Nov. 7. The exhibit will then travel to Abbe Creek Gallery in Mt. Vernon in April of 2027 and will be retained by the Meskwaki Historical Preservation Department to establish a permanent, Tribal-held photographic resource that can support future exhibitions, educational programming, historical research and cultural preservation efforts.
This exhibit was made possible by the Sac and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa (Meskwaki Nation), the Greater Poweshiek Community Foundation Racial Equity Fund, the Grinnell College Center for Prairie Studies and the Grinnell Area Arts Council.
Stewart Gallery is located in the Grinnell Arts Center at 926 Broad St., Grinnell. Regular open hours are from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesdays through Friday and from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturdays. For more information, visit www.grinnellarts.org or call 641-236-3203. Admission is free.