Image credit: Kike Arnal, 2022.
NUMU is collaborating with the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe and San Jose State University on this art exhibition about the vitality of the Muwekma, featuring photography of tribal members by their Tribal Photographer Kike Arnal. The project will promote deeper understanding of local indigenous art, culture, history, and contemporary issues in Los Gatos and the greater Bay Area, and preserve and share knowledge about critical issues of federal recognition that the Muwekma Ohlone continue to fight for.
The present-day Muwekma Ohlone Tribe is comprised of all of the known surviving American Indian lineages aboriginal to the San Francisco Bay region who trace their ancestry through the Missions Dolores, Santa Clara, and San Jose; and who were also members of the historic Federally Recognized Verona Band of Alameda County. The aboriginal homeland of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe includes the following counties: San Francisco, San Mateo, most of Santa Clara, Alameda, Contra Costa, and portions of Napa, Santa Cruz, Solano and San Joaquin.
Based in Oakland, Kike Arnal is an American documentary photographer born in Venezuelan of European, Indigenous and African descent. His work has been exhibited at the United Nations in New York and Geneva, by the Open Society Institute in New York and Washington, and in museums in Sao Paulo and Caracas. His list of clients include ARCUS Foundation, The World Bank, New York University and Amnesty International. In 2013, the National Museum in Lima, Peru, opened Afroperú, a solo exhibition of his photographs on the Peruvian population of African origins. More recently, in 2016, his series Voladores was exhibited in a solo show during the European Month of Photography in Germany.
The San Jose State Department of Anthropology has had a long-standing partnership with the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area. This relationship has resulted in many collaborative and mutually beneficial projects that have involved faculty, students, and members of the Tribe. The department is committed to forging deeper relationships with the peoples whose land SJSU occupies.
Mosaic America is a nonprofit organization that strengthens communities, cultivates belonging, and catalyzes inclusion through inter-cultural and co-created art. Our team of artists uses inspiration from their cultures and art forms to collaborate on unique performances and expressions that highlight the common threads of our shared American story.
