Indian Removal Act III: We are a Wounding

An exhibition by Joe Harjo

Fort Worth Contemporary Arts, September 5 - November 15, 2025

Indian Removal Act III: We are a Wounding marks the final installment of Indian Removal Acts I-III, an exhibition series that artist Joe Harjo describes as “delving into the historical and contemporary issues that have profoundly affected Native American communities, our land, our narratives, and our pursuit of prosperous futures.”

Harjo considers Manifest Destiny, a 19th-century belief held by many Americans that the United States was destined to expand across the North American continent, from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. This ideology had a profound and negative impact on Native American people, resulting in land displacement, violent conflicts, loss of cultural heritage, treaty violations, and genocide. Indeed, the title of Harjo’s body of work derives from the Indian Removal Act of 1830, which forcibly displaced Native nations – including Harjo’s own, the Muscogee Nation – to “unsettled” lands west of the Mississippi River.

Following earlier exhibitions, Indian Removal Act I: American Progress, Galveston Arts Center, and Act II Indian Removal Act II: And She Was, Contemporary at Bluestar, San Antonio, Harjo conceived Act III as a reflection on resolution, with a view towards the future. He described the new work as “speaking against the disappearing and erasing of Native people, our histories, our lives as we live them, and our futures.” By addressing the current misrepresentations, homogenization, and undervaluation of Native culture, Harjo’s work brings visibility to and emphasizes Native growth, contributions, resourcefulness, adaptability, and existence of Native people within contemporary spaces.

Funding from the National Endowment for the Arts supported the publication of Indian Removal Acts I-III: Joe Harjo, which documents the entire exhibition series.

Indian Removal Act III: We are a Wounding was supported by grants from the TCU Community Connection Fund and the TCU College of Fine Arts Connection Culture Committee. Additional funding was provided by the Barbara and Donald R. Thomas Endowment for the Art Galleries at TCU.

Joe Harjo is a multidisciplinary artist from the Muscogee (Creek) Nation of Oklahoma and currently teaches in San Antonio, TX. He holds a BFA in Visual Arts from the University of Central Oklahoma and an MFA from the University of Texas at San Antonio. Recent exhibitions include: Indian Removal Act II: And She Was, Contemporary at Bluestar, San Antonio, TX; Indian Removal Act I: American Progress, Galveston Arts Center, TX; High Visibility: On Location in Rural America and Indian Country, Plains Art Museum, Fargo, ND; Reimagining the Third Space, KCAI: Center for Contemporary Practice, Kansas City, Missouri; and, re/thinking photography: Conceptual Photography from Texas, FotoFest, Houston, TX. Harjo is a Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture Resident Alumni (2022), a Harpo Foundation Native American Residency Fellow (2020-21), recipient of the Blue Star Contemporary Berlin Residency hosted by Künstlerhaus Bethanien in Germany (2022-23), a Bemis Center for Contemporary Art Resident Alumni (2023), and a 2024 Joan Mitchell Fellow.

Installation photography by Raul Rodriguez