Homelands: Mnë’nának, Māēnāēwah, Tešišik

Homelands reasserts the presence of Native people in American art through works primarily from the region now known as Wisconsin and the Western Great Lakes. The title refers to the Milwaukee Art Museum’s location in a settlement on the shores of Lake Michigan, where names for the city vary by Native community and often come from individuals respected as language keepers and cultural authorities. All three Indigenous names for Milwaukee here—mnë’nának (Potawatomi, “the good land”),* Māēnāēwah (Menominee, “some misfortune happens”), and Tešišik (Ho-Chunk, “bad lake”)—reflect the city’s history…