Kadusné Ursala Hudson, Artifacts , 2024, digital photograph.

The Institute of American Indian Arts’ (IAIA) MFA in Studio Arts (MFASA) program, in collaboration with the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) Santa Fe, is proud to present Not Here But There, a group exhibition co-curated by Alexandria Hawley (Diné) and Isabella Shey Robbins (Diné), on view May 17–June 15, 2025. 

Join us for the opening reception on Friday, May 16, from 5–9 pm at ICA Santa Fe, 906 S. St Francis Dr., Santa Fe, NM 87505. 

Not Here but There brings together six exceptional artists—Avis Charley (Spirit Lake Dakota and Diné), Shannon Christy Hooper (Fallon Paiute Shoshone), Kadusné Ursala Hudson (Tlingit, Filipina, English, and German), Sáandlaanaay Kimberly Fulton Orozco (Kaigani Haida), Cole Redhorse Taylor (Mdewakantunwan Dakota and Prairie Island Indian Community), and Kathleen Wall (Jemez Pueblo and White Earth). Working across diverse mediums—including weaving, ceramics, photography, sound, and site-specific installation—these artists engage the tensions between innovation and traditional art forms, drawing from personal, familial, and Tribal histories through their practices. 

Representing a range of nations, communities, and identities, the artists in this exhibition are all candidates for the MFA in Studio Arts Class of 2025 at the Institute of American Indian Arts. Not Here But There presents work shaped by two years of intensive, practice-based inquiry guided by artist-mentors and grounded in art historical study. Each artist enters the program with a lifetime of experience, bringing that depth into their work while expanding, challenging, and refining their practices. 

The exhibition’s title, Not Here But There, reimagines the phrase “neither here nor there”—often used to imply irrelevance—into a powerful affirmation of in-between spaces: the transitional spaces we move through at various moments in our lives, and the experience of being rooted in one place (physically, emotionally, spiritually) while longing for another. The phrase evokes spatiality and what it means to be situated in particular places, spaces, and lands while remaining connected to many others. The works in this exhibition emerge from the artists’ negotiations with inheritance, archives and memory, mobility, and materiality. 

For more information, press images, or to schedule an interview, please contact: Davidsarah Kaplan, davidsarah@icasantafe.org, or info@icasantafe.org, or Jason S. Ordaz, IAIA Chief Communications Officer at jason.ordaz@iaia.edu.