Current Exhibits
Botánica: A Pharmacy for the Soul Closes July 2, 2009 Recreates a botánica, or store that sells items necessary for practicing a variety of Afro-Caribbean religions, based on the one owned by Curator Selina Morales's Puerto Rican grandmother from 1985 through 1991. Drawing on memories, family stories, recent ethnographic fieldwork in botánicas in New York and New Jersey, this exhibit tells a meaningful story of family, community, individuality, creativity, and faith. Read more about it.
Clothes, Collections, and Culture . . . What is a Curator? Closes Sunday, December 20, 2009 Curated by Lori Hall-Araujo, a graduate student in IU’s Department of Communication and Culture, this exhibit explores what museum curators do and how they do it, and features artifacts from the Royce Collection of Isthmus Zapotec Textiles and Clothing. Read more about it.
Find a Fable, Tell a Tale: A Story of Story Telling Closes Sunday, December 20, 2009 Explores the world of storytelling beyond words on paper. Read more about it.
Images of Native Americans: The Wanamaker Collection Closes July 2, 2009 Presents selections from one of the largest and most important collections of images of Native Americans, and features an overview of the collection's history and its holdings. Read more about it.
Our Culture is Our Resistance Closes August 14, 2009 Features images by internationally renowned photographer and human rights activist Jonathan Moller. This exhibit focuses on the history of Guatemala, documenting injustices towards the country’s indigenous majority during the civil war at the hands of the Guatemalan government. Read more about it.
Safe and Sound: Protective Devices from Around the World Closes August 14, 2009 Explores the universal desire to avoid danger and remain out of harm’s way. Read more about it.
Thoughts, Things, and Theories...What Is Culture? Ongoing Examines the nature of culture through the exploration of cultural traditions surrounding life stages and universal needs. Read more about it.
A World of His Own: The Uncommon Artistry of Chester Cornett Closes Sunday, December 20, 2009 Celebrates the creativity and craftsmanship of Chester Cornett (1913-1981), a gifted chairmaker who hailed from the mountains of southeastern Kentucky. The exhibit, curated by James Seaver, a graduate student in IU’s Department of History, is the first museum retrospective on Cornett’s work, and capitalizes upon furniture, tools, and other objects in the Mathers Museum’s collections to explore the chairmaker’s unique folk aesthetic. Read more about it.
Offsite Exhibits Images of Native Americans: The Wanamaker Collection at Indiana University (traveling throughout Indiana through June 30, 2009) Images from one of the largest and most important collections of photographs of Native Americans are featured in the traveling exhibit Images of Native Americans: The Wanamaker Collection at Indiana University, currently traveling through the state of Indiana. This exhibit, organized by the Mathers Museum of World Cultures at Indiana University Bloomington, is sponsored by the Moveable Feast of the Arts Program at IUB. Created through a generous gift from the Lilly Endowment Inc., the Moveable Feast of the Arts Program was initiated by the IU Office of the President in 2004 with administrative and financial oversight provided by the Office of the Vice Provost for Research. The program's mission is to showcase and extend IU's cultural resources to Hoosier communities and IU campuses across the state.
Online Exhibits The Mandara Margi: A Society Living on the Verge Online Exhibition This online exhibit, created and curated by Dr. James Vaughan, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at Indiana University, portrays the lives of eastern Margi of Nigeria between 1959 and 1987. The photographs were taken during five periods and, with one exception, were all taken in the villages of Kirngu and Humbili.