Past Exhibitions | Smithsonian Institution

Why We Serve: Native Americans in the United States Armed Forces

Why We Serve honors the generations of Native Americans who have served in the armed forces of the United States since the American Revolution.

November 11, 2020 – February 28, 2021

American Indian Museum DC

Why We Serve: Native Americans in the United States Armed Forces

Why We Serve honors the generations of Native Americans who have served in the armed forces of the United States since the American Revolution.

November 10, 2021 – November 30, 2023

American Indian Museum DC

Why We Serve: Native Americans in the United States Armed Forces

This poignant exhibition tells personal stories of Native Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Alaska Native veterans who have served in the armed forces of the United States.

June 17, 2024 – April 29, 2025

American Indian Museum DC

Welcome Center's Display of Future Museum

View an exhibition on the planning, design, and construction of the new American Indian Museum.

June 2001 – December 19, 2003

American Indian Museum DC

Vochol: Huichol Art on Wheels

Marvel at a one-of-a-kind VW Beetle decorated by Huichol artisans using 2 million glass beads and handmade textiles.

March 20, 2012 – May 10, 2012

American Indian Museum DC

Vantage Point: The Contemporary Native Art Collection

View significant works by 25 Native American artists in a range of media that highlight the museum's collection of contemporary art.

September 25, 2010 – August 7, 2011

American Indian Museum DC

Up Where We Belong: Native Musicians in Popular Culture

Learn about Native people who have been active participants in contemporary music during the past century.

July 1, 2010 – January 2, 2011

American Indian Museum DC

Trail of Tears: A Story of Cherokee Removal

This powerful exhibition takes a deeper look at Indian removal from the Cherokee perspective.

April 12, 2018 – January 2, 2019

American Indian Museum DC

Through the Eyes of the Eagle: Illustrating Healthy Living for Children

See nearly 70 original watercolors used in the Eagle Books -- a diabetes-prevention series developed for Native schoolchildren.

October 3, 2008 – January 4, 2009

American Indian Museum DC

This IS Hawai'i

See new and experimental works of art that explore what it means to be “Hawaiian” in the 21st century.

May 19, 2011 – July 4, 2011

American Indian Museum DC

The REDress Project

The installation of empty red dresses centers on the issue of missing or murdered indigenous women.

March 1, 2019 – March 31, 2019

American Indian Museum DC

The Great Inka Road: Engineering an Empire

Explores the foundations of the Inka Road in earlier Andean cultures and the legacy of the Inka Empire during the colonial period and in the present day.

June 26, 2015 – June 27, 2021

American Indian Museum DC

Sublime Light: Tapestry Art of DY Begay

Sublime Light celebrates more than three decades of innovation by DY Begay and showcases 48 of her most remarkable tapestries.

September 20, 2024 – July 13, 2025

American Indian Museum DC

Student Art Exhibition: Tradition Is My Life, Education Is My Future

View works by the 2009 Native American Student Artist Competition winners.

August 19, 2009 – September 17, 2009

American Indian Museum DC

Section 14: The Other Palm Springs, California

This exhibition chronicles the story of Section 14, a square-mile section of land in downtown Palm Springs that forms the heart of the Agua Caliente Reservation.

March 1, 2019 – February 17, 2020

American Indian Museum DC

Robert Houle: Red Is Beautiful

Red Is Beautiful, the first major retrospective of his work, celebrates more than fifty years of this singular artist’s remarkable career.

May 25, 2023 – June 2, 2024

American Indian Museum DC

Ramp It Up: Skateboard Culture in Native America

View rare and archival photographs and film of Native American skateboarders, as well as skatedecks from Native companies and contemporary artists, that celebrate the vibrancy, creativity, and controversy of American Indian skate culture.

June 12, 2009 – November 1, 2009

American Indian Museum DC

R.C. Gorman: Early Prints and Drawings, 1966-1974

See 28 early drawings and lithographs by Navajo artist R.C. Gorman (1931-2005) that foreshadow the monumental women and Indian madonnas that brought the artist international acclaim.

January 13, 2011 – May 1, 2011

American Indian Museum DC

Preston Singletary: Raven and the Box of Daylight

Preston Singletary: Raven and the Box of Daylight features works from internationally acclaimed artist Preston Singletary (Tlingit American, 1963), and tells the story of Raven, the creator of the world and giver of the stars, moon, and sun.

January 28, 2022 – January 29, 2023

American Indian Museum DC

Patriot Nations: Native Americans in Our Nation's Armed Forces

Using art, photography and essays, the 16-panel show examines more than 300 years of Native people's contributions to the U.S. military.

January 21, 2017 – October 30, 2020

American Indian Museum DC

Outdoor Sculpture: Obelisk

Obelisk (1987, ed. 2/6) is a 15 1/2 foot-tall, 1,500-pound, cast-bronze sculpture by renowned Native American artist Fritz Scholder (1937-2005; Luiseno) that was inspired by his long fascination with all things Egyptian.

September 11, 2008 – August 16, 2009

American Indian Museum DC

Our Universes: Traditional Knowledge Shapes Our World

Focusing on Native cosmology and organized around one solar year, this exhibition explores the annual ceremonies of Native peoples as a window on their ancestral teachings.

September 21, 2004 – February 12, 2023

American Indian Museum DC

Our Peoples: Giving Voice to Our Histories

This exhibition discusses events that shaped the lives and outlook of Native peoples from 1491 to the present.

September 21, 2004 – March 14, 2014

American Indian Museum DC

Our Lives: Contemporary Life and Identities

This exhibition examines the identities of Native peoples in the 21st century, and how those identities—both individual and communal—are the results of deliberate, often difficult choices made in challenging circumstances.

September 21, 2004 – July 6, 2015

American Indian Museum DC

Native Words, Native Warriors

See 15 large-scale banners that reveal the little-known but crucial role Native Americans played during World Wars I and II. Native Americans from more than a dozen tribes used their Native languages while in service to the U.S. military.

August 10, 2007 – September 4, 2007

American Indian Museum DC