The year 2026 marks 150 years of Colorado statehood and the United States 250th anniversary. But the Center of Southwest Studies' latest exhibition, Constellations of Place, offers a different kind of reflection as it recognizes these milestones. Rather, it’s an invitation to honor Durango’s complex history of colonization through the lens of Native American, Indigenous, and Latinx artists.
“I will say, we are talking about topics in this exhibition that you cannot talk about in many other places in the United States right now,” said Meranda Roberts.
Roberts is the guest curator for the exhibit. She is Chicana and a citizen of the Yerington Paiute Tribe of Nevada, and her goal is to allow Indigenous artists to present their own work and histories.
When you first walk in, you’ll notice right away there is an installation piece by a Diné weaver and sheep herder, Tyrell Tapaha. Tapaha wove a Civil War-era flag and hung it upside down on a mound of dirt. There are broken liquor bottles and figurines to represent and critique Manifest Destiny.
“They [Tapaha] have this deep connection to place, and how they experience it as a Diné person whose family has undergone tremendous amounts of change over different periods of assimilation practices, and how they remain dedicated to their art form,” Roberts explained.
Constellations of Place features 60 works, including archival pieces from The Center of Southwest Studies' earliest collections and styles of beloved Southwestern art, such as historic weavings, beadwork, and paintings. For Dr. Roberts, it was important to revisit these so-called “legacy objects”.
“I wanted people to be drawn in by what they are already familiar with, but to learn more about the pieces themselves. They might like the aesthetics of how something looks, but there is a deeper meaning behind the piece from a Native or Indigenous perspective,” Roberts said.
Alongside these archival pieces, the show examines the entanglement of Catholicism’s mark on the region through Spanish settlers. The show features altars, colcha embroideries, and bedazzled serapes from various Latinx artists, too.
“Even though they are distinct identities, there are similarities here. That colonial borders don’t necessarily get to dictate,” Roberts added.
The idea of many points, many histories coming together is where the name for the exhibition, Constellations of Place, comes from.
“This place, Durango, this place, Fort Lewis, is a constellation of people. It’s a range of different histories, different perspectives,” said Matthew Schaeffer, the Tribal Nations coordinator in the Reconciliations Department at Fort Lewis College. “A lot of which there’s been a dominant narrative of this place. This constellation brings all those perspectives into one place, not only where we can see it on the walls of the Center of Southwest, but we can also read it in the text on the panels.”
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, FLC was once a Federal Indian Boarding School that was used to assimilate Native children in Southwest Colorado. This exhibition is part of the institution's ongoing efforts to reconcile with its past.
“Reconciliation is a loaded term,” Schaeffer said. “It means a lot of different things to a lot of different communities. Here at Fort Lewis College, we have to think about what it means for our community. I think part of Indigenous knowledge and culture is uplifting those Indigenous voices to tell stories.”
While we were walking around the exhibit, I asked Schaeffer if there was a piece he felt drawn to. We walk over to a black and white photograph of a mother and daughter. It’s called the First American Doll series, by Cara Romero.
“I am Pueblo. I am from Acoma Pueblo and Taos Pueblo, and I am also Hopi. So this style here really reminds me of home in a more contemporary sense.”
Schaeffer reflected on the piece.
“I think when people think about Indigenous people are thought about in a way that is in the past,” Schaeffer said. “This is a more modern and contemporary way to show we are still here, we are still doing new things, innovative things. And that’s a great way to recognize that. That’s what this piece means to me.”
Constellations of Place is part of the America 250-Colorado 150 Southwest regional “Power of Place” initiative. This is a collaborative project between the Center of Southwest Studies, FLC Four Corners Bridging Institute, and the Department of Reconciliation. The show received funding from Belonging Colorado, The Denver Foundation, and the Greater Good Science Center.
Constellations of Place will be on display until December 2026.
