Merciless: Indigenous Lands Since 1776 is a commemoration of Indigenous resistance and a celebration of ongoing relationships to this place known as Bde Óta Othúŋwe (Minneapolis). Featuring new indoor and outdoor installations by Natchez Beaulieu, Marlena Myles, and Missy Whiteman, the exhibition foregrounds Indigenous resilience and sustained connections to Wakpá Tháŋka, the Mississippi River.
Each artist uses their medium — augmented reality, virtual reality, and mosaic design — to make visible the histories, stories, and spirits often rendered unseen in dominant narratives. Figures such as Dakota Blue Star Woman, known in other tribal traditions as Whirlwind Woman (Arapaho) or First Woman (Anishinaabe), signal shared cultural lineages and the continuities that shape this region.
The exhibition’s title references the language of the Declaration of Independence, which infamously characterizes Indigenous peoples as “merciless Indian Savages.” Merciless reclaims and reframes this language, creating a space to acknowledge this history while centering Indigenous sovereignty, presence, and freedoms across time.
Merciless: Indigenous Lands Since 1776 is organized by Weisman Art Museum and curated by Kendra Greendeer, Ihlenfeld Curator of Collaborative and Community Exhibitions.
Special thanks to the KHR McNeely Family Foundation, Kevin, Rosemary, and Hannah Rose McNeely, for their support of Merciless: Indigenous Lands Since 1776. This project is also supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts and The University of Minnesota Imagine Fund. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through an Art Experiences grant and an Operating Support grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund. Additional general operating support is generously provided by Ameriprise Financial.
Natchez Beaulieu, Waabigwanikwe (Flower Woman), is an Anishinaabekwe from the White Earth Nation, born and raised in South Minneapolis. She is a full-time artist, teaching art and working on commissioned projects in her community. Her art journey began with mural making through a group called Neighborhood Safe Art. During her summers in high school, she learned under Marilyn Lindstrom’s mentorship, creating many outdoor acrylic murals throughout the Twin Cities. Recently, she’s been focused on mosaics to showcase her Ojibwe floral designs and Indigenous knowledge. In collaboration with organizations in the Native American Community, she has completed several projects, two of which are on the American Indian Cultural Corridor including the mosaic on the medicine garden at the Native American Community Clinic. Over two summers, she collaborated with the Good Space to engage Indigenous youth on a mosaic mural called Zoongidewin in the Little Earth Community. In 2017, she worked with students in the Osseo and Minneapolis Public Schools Indian Education programs, creating culturally significant art. During the summer of 2019, she was hired by the Minneapolis Institute of Arts to facilitate a youth mural project with ten young women for The Hearts Of Our People exhibition.
Marlena Myles, Spirit Lake Dakota, Mohegan, and Muscogee artist, is based in St. Paul, Minnesota. Myles’s practice centers on Indigenous history, language, and the inclusion of both within modernity. By suggesting a continued Dakota culture that is illustrated within the digital sphere, Myles is portraying Native people in a space that others do not expect to witness Indigenous people and in a particular medium–as modern people utilizing the same technologies. Some of her most recent work includes an augmented reality installation, Spirit Door, at the Franconia Sculpture Park and a community cradleboard project with Dakota County Library. She is also creating new work for the Weisman’s upcoming exhibition, Merciless: Indigenous Lands Since 1776, which will open in September 2026.
Missy Whiteman (Northern Arapahoe and Kickapoo) is an Emmy-nominated writer, director, producer and multi-media artist. Missy understands her work to be a voice for her ancestors, their stories and ancestral wisdom. Her late father, Ernest Whiteman, influenced her work with the gift of artistic vision and practice of art as a ceremony.
Many of Missy’s films have screened on international, national and local venues such as Walker Art Center, National Geographic All Roads Festival and Bilabo Spain. Missy is a current recipient of the McKnight Fellowship for Media Arts, a Forecast Public Art Mid-Career grant and is the alumni of The Sundance Native Lab Fellowship and Jerome Fellowship for her short film project The Coyote Way: Going Back Home. Her current project, The Coyote Way X: Expanded Cinema is a multidimensional cinematic experience of The Coyote Way: Going Back Home short film intertwined with performance, live score, video mapping and 360/VR.
KHR Family Foundation
National Endowment for the Arts
Imagine Fund
Minnesota State Arts Board Legacy Grant logos
Ameriprise Financial
