Weaving Words, Weaving Worlds:
The Power of Indigenous Language in Contemporary Art

July 17 - November 22, 2025

Press Kit

Click here to purchase the Exhibition Catalog

A free digital copy of the exhibition catalog is available for educational purposes. To request a copy, please email Zuccairegallery@stonybrook.edu and include reason for use.

News articles:

Newsday: Indigenous art exhibit opens in Stony Brook for Native American Heritage Month 
You don't have to travel to the Southwest or other parts of the country to celebrate Native American Heritage Month. Indigenous art will be on full display in the exhibition "Weaving Words, Weaving Worlds: The Power of Indigenous Language in Contemporary Art" at Stony Brook University's Zuccaire Gallery through Nov. 22... read more  PDF version

Stony Brook Matters: Jeremy Dennis '13 Curates Zuccaire Gallery Exhibition Exploring Indigenous Language in Contemporary Art
When Jeremy Dennis (SBU’13) entered the State University of New York at Stony Brook as a freshman, he was a computer science major. However, halfway through his academic career, he switched his major to his passion — art... read more.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

• Native American Heritage Month Celebration: Wednesday, November 12, 4-6pm
  
  Panel discussion and reception. Organized in collaboration with Native American and Indigenous Studies Initiative and  Office of Diversity, Intercultural and Community Engagement.
  
  
  
  

HOURS:
Through November 22: Open Monday-Friday 12-4pm & evenings of Staller Center performances

EVENING & WEEKEND HOURS: 

• Wed., Nov. 12, 4-6pm *Native American Heritage Month Panel Discussion & Reception
• Fri., Nov. 14, 7-9pm
• Sun., Nov. 16, 3-5pm
• Thurs., Nov. 20, 6-7pm
• Sat., Nov. 22, 1-5pm and 7-9pm

Artists: Chiara (Sunshine) Do’wal Sehi Beaumont, Tecumseh Ceaser, Jeremy Dennis, Demian DinéYazhi', Ginger Dunnill, Korina Emmerich, Danielle Emerson, First Literature Project, Jeffrey Gibson, Erin Genia, Cannupa Hanska Luger, Jamie John, Brittany Kiertzner (Arisawe), Ella Mahoney, David Bunn Martine, New Red Order, Jaune Quick-To-See Smith, Heather Rogers, Cara Romero, Denise ("Weetahmoe") Silva-Dennis, Anna Tsouhlarakis, GianniVV, Kay WalkingStick, Anangookwe Wolf. 

Curated by Jeremy Dennis (Shinnecock Nation)

WEAVING WORDS, WEAVING WORLDS explores the profound connections between Indigenous language and contemporary art, centering artists' work engaging with Algonquian languages spoken across Long Island and the Northeast. Drawing from heritage, memory, and community, these artists use creative expression to revitalize and reclaim language as a tool for cultural continuity, storytelling, and healing. While the exhibition uplifts the resilience of Indigenous language, it also acknowledges a history shaped by violence and silence—from early colonial efforts to control and document language, to the trauma inflicted by boarding schools that punished children for speaking their own languages. It further holds space for those who were forcibly silenced, including missing and murdered Indigenous women, whose stories and voices remain essential to any conversation about cultural survival.

This exhibition also recognizes how language intersects with lived experience, touching on themes of immigration, gender, family, love, trauma, and intergenerational memory. Despite the legacy of forced forgetting, efforts like the Algonquian Language Revitalization Project at Stony Brook University, led by Unkechaug and Shinnecock leaders, have sparked a powerful resurgence. Weaving Words, Weaving Worlds extends this work through visual art, where beadwork, sculpture, sound, video, and painting become acts of resistance and renewal. These works speak not only to the endurance of Indigenous languages but to the many ways they continue to shape, hold, and express the complexities of Indigenous life today. -Jeremy Dennis, Guest Curator, Shinnecock Indian Nation

Also featured in the exhibition are archival materials from Stony Brook University’s Special Collections, which provide vital historical context for Weaving Words, Weaving Worlds, illuminating the enduring presence of Indigenous peoples and languages on Long Island. Highlights include the Native Long Island map by the Suffolk County Archaeological Association, which features over 400 Algonquian words and cultural references. These early maps, place-name studies, and historical documents underscore the exhibition’s themes of language reclamation, cultural continuity, and the resilience of Indigenous knowledge.

Accompanying the exhibition is a 42-page catalog featuring artist images and statements by all 24 artists of the exhibition, a curatorial statement, and text about the Algonquian Language Revitalization Project and Native American and Indigenous Studies at Stony Brook University. Exhibition photographs and archival materials from Stony Brook University Libraries' Special Collections are also featured.

Click here to purchase the Exhibition Catalog

Course Collaborations & Group Visits:  Interested in bringing a group to the gallery for a guided tour or outside of regular hours? Email Zuccairegallery@stonybrook.edu. A free digital copy of the exhibition catalog is available for educational purposes. To request a copy, please email Zuccairegallery@stonybrook.edu and include reason for use.

Weaving Words, Weaving Worlds is generously supported by funds from Stony Brook University Office of the President, Office of the Provost, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and the Humanities Institute of Stony Brook. Additional support is provided by Garth Greenan Gallery, NYC. Zuccaire Gallery exhibitions are supported by a generous grant from the Paul W. Zuccaire Foundation, with additional funds from the Friends of Staller Center.

PAST EVENTS:
Opening Reception: Sunday, July 20, 5-7 pm. Featuring a drum processional by Jeffrey Pegram & welcome by Jeremy Dennis, exhibition curator

Artist Panel Discussion & Reception:  Thursday, Sept. 11, 4:30pm
Panelists: Danielle Emerson, Anna Tsouhlarakis, and Tecumseh Ceaser, moderated by Jeremy Dennis. 

Art Crawl (self-guided): Friday, September 26, 2-5pm
Stop by any campus-wide art venue on your own schedule! Guided tours offered at specific times at select venues. Participating galleries:  Zuccaire Gallery; Wang Center; Melville Library: Alloway Gallery, Special Collections and Central Reading Room; Algonquian Library,  and Chavez Hall. Visit SBU Art Crawl for details.