AN ONGOING EXHIBIT
On This Ground:
Being and belonging in America explores how art can help us understand what it means to belong to family, community, and this place we now call America.
Bringing two extraordinary collections of Native American and American art together for the first time in our institution’s history, this long-term installation celebrates artistic achievements across time, space, and worldviews.
Located in the Nancy and George Putnam Gallery and Barbara Weld Putnam Gallery, the 250 artworks on display span in time from 10,000 years ago to the present, and demonstrate a range of voices, modes of expression, cultures, and media including: sculpture, paintings, textiles and costumes, furniture, decorative arts, works on paper, installations, video, and a re-envisioned period room.
The gallery also includes original documents and objects from the Salem witch trials, one of the most iconic dramas in American history. Between May 1692 and March 1693, the court sentenced 25 innocent people in the Salem region to death.
The installation will be responsive to these urgent times by giving our public an opportunity to grapple with the links, continuities, and disjunctions of our complex histories in America in order to shape a more connected and empathetic present and future.
By rethinking America’s histories, visitors are asked to consider how we might envision a better future together.
Share your impressions with us on social media using #OnThisGround
Time to explore: Large gallery space. Plan for 1 hour or more.