endawnis Spears, Akomawt

“The reorientation to Wabanaki worldviews and epistemologies should be a difficult and years-long process for a museum—if they are doing it right! I felt as though ‘Passages’ was an important turning point for the PMA as it is embarking on a vital journey of truth-telling as a community. I am grateful that our organization, in concert with others who added to ‘Passages,’ were able to encourage the PMA and also help provide methods and models for transformation. ”

“I learned so much from my fellow advisory committee members,” shares endawnis Spears of the Akomawt Educational Initiative about her experience on the Advisory Committee of Passages in American Art. “Broadly, the lessons I came away with are: Question what you see, ask how others might view or interpret your words and actions, and ask whose story is being told and what is being left out.”

endawnis Spears (Diné/ Ojibwe/ Chickasaw/ Choctaw) is an educator working in the public humanities and a founding member of the Akomawt Educational Initiative, an Indigenous education and interpretive consultancy for museums, K-12 schools, and colleges and universities. The expertise of her work directly aligns with Passages in American Art: reorienting Wabanaki worldviews and platforming multiple voices in the story of American Art.