RISD Museum unveils major Indigenous exhibition honoring the seal

The RISD Museum presents Natchiq | Onkeehq | Isuwiq: Indigenous Artists Honor the Seal, on view April 4–October 25, 2026. Organized by guest curators Nadia Jackinsky-Sethi (Alutiiq), Erin Ggaadimits Ivalu Gingrich (Koyukon Dené–Iñupiaq), and Elizabeth James-Perry (Aquinnah Wampanoag) in collaboration with María Fernanda Mancera, Assistant Curator of Indigenous Art and Conor Moynihan, Associate Curator of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs, at the RISD Museum, the exhibition brings together historic and contemporary artworks that reflect the enduring significance of the seal across generations. Across many northern coastal cultures, people maintain longstanding relationships with the wild beings that inhabit the waters they call home. For many Indigenous communities across Arctic and subarctic regions, seals have long sustained