Woven Futures, Unbound Patterns: Contemporary Diné Weaving

Institute of Contemporary Art Santa Fe presents Woven Futures, Unbound Patterns: Contemporary Diné Weaving, an exhibition bringing together weavers across generations to foreground weaving as a living, evolving practice.

Curated by Venancio Aragón, with organizational support from Chiara Giovando and Tony Abeyta, the exhibition approaches weaving as a site of ongoing experimentation and critical engagement. Developed in dialogue with artists, lenders, and institutional partners, the exhibition includes works from renowned contemporary weavers including Irveta Aragón, Venancio Aragón, DY Begay, Theresea Bowman, Melissa Cody, Calandra L. Cook, Dolores W. Grey, Marlowe Katoney, Vera Myers, Mary Lou Schultz, Steiner Cody, Tyrrell Tapaha, and Calvin Toney. Works made by students from the weaving department at Diné College in Tsaile, Navajo Nation (Diné Bikéyah) will also be displayed alongside loans from the School for Advanced Research and the Tia Collection, bringing historic and contemporary works into direct conversation, tracing a lineage across time.

Moving beyond historical frameworks shaped by trading posts, static ethnographic framings, and external narratives, the exhibition centers weaving as a practice led by the weavers themselves. Diné weaving emerges as an active site of innovation, where material, pattern, and process carry forward complex cultural, social, and aesthetic lineages. Works by established artists are shown alongside students, positioning emerging weavers as continuations and expansions of Diné knowledge systems, working within and against inherited forms.