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Editor’s Picks: Southwest Contemporary’s Summer 2026 Exhibition Guide

As the nation marks 250 years this July, SWC arts editor Natalie Hegert picks thirty-two exhibitions that offer an antidote to the flag-waving displays of patriotism.

Silkscreen print of a landscape in pink by Michael Namingha, in States of Erosion at IAIA MoCNA, one of the exhibitions selected for the southwest art exhibitions summer 2026 guide
Michael Namingha (Hopi-Tewa), Yupkoyvi, 2023, enamel and silkscreen ink with hand-applied soil on shaped wooden panel, 32 x 68 x 2 in. Courtesy IAIA MoCNA.

Semiquincentennial. It really rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it? This year, the United States marks 250 years, in case you couldn’t tell from all the red, white, and blue festooned on just about damn near everything. So, what does it mean to celebrate this anniversary?

This summer, there is a whole slate of Southwest exhibitions asking exactly this question. The picture they provide is one of complexity and criticality, offering perspectives outside of the dominant narrative. Here are some of the shows offering up a mirror to a nation at this momentous milestone, selected by our editorial staff and writers.

Chihua.Chuco.Cruzeña
Mexican American Cultural Center, El Paso
June 13–August 16, 2026

This exhibition features textile works by three artists from Juaréz, El Paso, and Las Cruces, representing distinct perspectives, techniques, and narratives of the fronteriza experience. These include embroidery by textile artist and archivist Joana Rios, fiber art by muralist and designer AO, and flags by interdisciplinary artist Eva Gabriella Flynn. What does it mean to create your own flag, your own banner to unite underneath?

Colorado Currents
MCA Denver
July 24–November 1, 2026

This highly anticipated exhibition takes a close look not at a whole nation, but at a region, defining Colorado through its creative community. Featuring work by twenty-eight artists with ties to Colorado—including Esteban Cabeza de Baca, Desert ArtLab, Devon Dikeou, Lydia Farrell, Floyd D. Tunson and Grace Kennison—the show excavates history, ecology, and identity at a historic juncture: the nation’s 250th and the state of Colorado’s 150th anniversaries.

States of Erosion: Reshaping and Reclaiming
IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, Santa Fe
August 14, 2026–January 3, 2027

Co-curated by Tania Willard (Secwépemc Nation) and Manuela Well-Off-Man, this major exhibition presents light, sound, installation, and two-dimensional works by contemporary Indigenous artists from Canada and the U.S., including Nicholas Galanin (Tlingit and Unangax̂), Cannupa Hanska Luger (Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara, and Lakota), and Michael Namingha (Hopi-Tewa), that “engage processes of erosion—material, cultural, and political.” Whether it’s about land, rights, or environment: the image and idea of erosion, as a force of erasure and exposure, is a powerful metaphor in this moment.

A flag made of Found fabrics; natural dyes made with cochineal, onion skins, rosemary, creosote, pecan shells
Eva Gabriella Flynn, Cobija, 2023-25, found fabrics; natural dyes made with cochineal, onion skins, rosemary, creosote, pecan shells, approximately 43 x 57 in., dimensions variable. Courtesy the artist.

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Print by Benjamin Muñoz with the text Made in America, part of the Cheech Collection
Benjamin Muñoz, A Miracle of the Masses, 2023, acrylic on carved panel with relief printmaking collage, 35 x 23 in. Gift of Jorge A. Lopez, MD and Samantha Lopez for The Cheech Center Collection of the Riverside Art Museum. Courtesy of the artist.
Crumpled napkins with pattern of the stars from the U.S. flag, from the Declarations of Incongruence exhibition, one of the exhibitions selected for the southwest art exhibitions summer 2026 guide
Ashley Miller, Patriotic Napkins, 2024, c-print. Courtesy Aaron Wilder and Fourteenfifteen Gallery.
Photograph of the Great Salt Lake by Alfredo Jaar.
Alfredo Jaar, The End (GSL_b), 2025, small-format photography, 11 3/8 x 14 in. Courtesy UMOCA.

Natalie Hegert

Natalie Hegert is a writer, curator, and the arts editor at Southwest Contemporary. She is currently based in Lubbock, Texas and is a member of the artist-run exhibition space CO-OPt Research + Projects. She holds an MA in art history and theory from Hunter College, New York.

Words

Natalie Hegert

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