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In Conversation: Will Wilson

Brunnier Art Museum
January 21 - May 4, 2025

Self Portrait of Will Wilson

Will Wilson (b. 1969), Will Wilson, Citizen of the Navajo Nation, Trans-customary Diné Artist, 2013, printed 2018, archival pigment print from wet plate collodion scan, 22 x 17 in. Art Bridges. Photography by Brad Flowers.

Diné photographer Will Wilson’s ongoing Critical Indigenous Photographic Exchange (CIPX) project is dedicated to creating a contemporary vision of Native North America. At the turn of the twentieth century, American photographer Edward Sheriff Curtis (1868–1952) embarked on a journey to produce a series of portfolios that documented Native Americans and their ways of life. The results, published as The North American Indian (1907–1930), were decidedly romantic while being received as reality. Curtis reduced his subjects to archetypes rather than allowing for personal agency. He would often provide props and worked diligently to ensure no examples of modern life appeared in his constructed scenes. For Wilson, CIPX is a way to create new conversations that decenter the work of Curtis and instead emphasizes exchange over problematic documentation.


For CIPX, Wilson employs a wet-plate collodion photographic technique, based on the nineteenth-century method that involves exposing and then developing a plate that has been coated in light-sensitive chemicals. Wilson pushes the CIPX project into the contemporary with the inclusion of “Talking Tintypes,” which use AR technology to bring photographs to life. Through his work, Wilson explores identity, the photographic medium as both art and science, and community. He collaborates with his sitters, who determine the pose, clothing, props, and how they are presented. As a gesture of reciprocity, Wilson gives the sitters the original photograph, while retaining the right to print and use scans for artistic purposes.


In Conversation: Will Wilson is organized by Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. Support provided by Art Bridges.


Generous support was also provided by Wilson Family Endowed Exhibition Fund, Phyllis and Larry Lepke, Paul and Lynn Hempe, Renate Dellmann, Marilyn and Paul Gennett, and University Museums Membership


Exhibition Programs

Find full descriptions of programs on the University Museums Calendar. All programs are free and open to the public. Registration is encouraged but not required. Click the event title for more information and/or to register. Events listed below will be at the Brunnier Art Museum (1805 Center Dr., 295 Scheman Building, Ames, Iowa) unless otherwise noted. Times are in Central Standard Time (CST). Programs are subject to change. Check the University Museums Calendar and Facebook page for the latest events information.

Curator’s Tour of "In Conversation: Will Wilson"

January 26, 2025, 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM (US Central)

Location: Brunnier Art Museum, 295 Scheman Building

Take a stroll through the new photography exhibition In Conversation: Will Wilson with Brunnier Art Museum curator, Adrienne Gennett.

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Museum Meetup: Native American Culture

January 30, 2025, 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM (US Central)

Location: Brunnier Art Museum, 290 Scheman Building

Experience contemporary and historical representation of Native American cultures at the Brunnier Art Museum! Visualize Native land and inhabitation throughout time, interact with your perceptions of modern Native identity, and understand how Ames and Iowa State University interfaces with historical and contemporary Native American life. 

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Images in Conversation: Indigenous Representation in Photography

February 16, 2025, 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM (US Central)

Location: Brunnier Art Museum, 295 Scheman Building

with Jen McClung, Associate Teaching Professor, American Indian Studies & English

Learn about the impact historical photography of Native Americans has had on the depictions of Indigenous people in the United States. Then discover the Native American artists who are reclaiming their images and those of other Indigenous peoples through their own creative interactions with photography and art.

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Artist Lecture with Will Wilson

April 4, 2025, 5:30 PM - 6:30 PM (US Central)

Location: Brunnier Art Museum, 295 Scheman Building

Will Wilson is a Diné photographer, artist, and curator who creates art and images of indigenous people to confront issues of agency and identity. Registration optional. 

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Conversation Roundtable with UNASA students and Dr. Niigaan Sinclair

April 15, 2025, 5:30 PM - 6:30 PM (US Central)

Location: Brunnier Art Museum, 295 Scheman Building

Come to the Brunnier to join in a roundtable style conversation between Dr. Niigaan Sinclair, the United Native American Student Association, and Iowa State University students as they discuss contemporary Native American arts and life. Dr. Niigaan Sinclair is Anishinaabe from Peguis First Nation and a professor at the University of Manitoba, where he holds the Faculty of Arts Professorship in Indigenous Knowledge and Aesthetics in the Department of Indigenous Studies.

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Visit the Brunnier Art Museum

Hours: 
Tuesday–Friday, 10:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m.
Saturday & Sunday, 1:00 p.m.–4:00 p.m.
Closed to the public Mondays. ISU curriculum tours may be scheduled on these days with a 2-week notice.

Closed University Holidays
Click here to see when the museums are closed.

Address: Scheman Building (2nd Floor), 1805 Center Drive, Ames, Iowa
Admission: The cost is free; however, there is a suggested donation of $8.

Photo by Robert Duncan at Casa Giraldi

 

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