Mαwte: Bound Together

Binding appears in woven, mended, and fused materials, but also as cultural, familial, and historical ties. Binds can strengthen and sustain, or mark the weight of colonial violence, dispossession, and disrupted land access. The works on view reveal the resilience of ties that endure, visions for repair and sovereignty, and the inseparability of innovation and tradition.

The exhibition is also bound to place. The Joan Dignam Schmaltz Gallery of Art stands on the banks of the Kennebec River, or Kwenebek(i), within the ancestral homelands of the Abenaki and the Wabanaki. Many works draw on these lands and waters as vessels of memory and identity, rooted in Indigenous values of reciprocity, kinship, gratitude, and respect.

Mαwte asks what Indigenous art is and can be, and invites engagement beyond expectations, affirming that Indigenous artistry is not frozen in time. Through mediums ranging from video to painting, beadwork to birch bark, stained glass to fiber arts, the featured artists spark curiosity, challenge assumptions, and encourage a deeper commitment to learning within the museum space and beyond.

The museum takes a pluralistic, open approach to American art and recognizes the deep Indigenous knowledge embedded in these lands. The exhibition extends the Colby College Museum of Art’s ongoing commitment to building relationships with the Wabanaki people, building upon recent exhibitions such as Wíwənikan… the beauty we carry (2019–20) and Painted: Our Bodies, Hearts, and Village (2023–24).

Mawte: Bound Together is curated by Sarah Sockbeson, guest curator, and Kendall DeBoer, assistant curator of modern and contemporary art, Colby Museum.

Generous support for the exhibition has been provided by Rick & Sheila Tasker and an anonymous donor, with additional support from the museum’s 25^th Anniversary Fund.