Famous New York Museum Now Has a Manager for Native American Art. And She is Native American.

Patricia Marroquin Norby, of Purépecha heritage, becomes the inaugural associate curator of Native American art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, a first in the 150-year history of the institution.

“I am delighted with this opportunity to return to my fine-art roots,” says the newly appointed full-time Native American curator. “Historical and contemporary Native American art embodies and confronts the environmental, religious, and economic disruptions that Indigenous communities have so powerfully negotiated—and still negotiate—through a balance of beauty, tradition, and innovation.”

Incidentally, Norby’s appointment coincides with ongoing efforts to promote Indigenous artists into museums’ collections. Washington’s National Gallery of Art just acquired its first painting from a Native American artist. The Met’s first exhibition to display works from Indigenous artists was in 2018. And at the end of last year, the museum installed two artworks from Kent Monkman, a Toronto-based Cree artist.  “This is a time of significant evolution for the museum,” says Norby. “I look forward to being part of this critical shift in the presentation of Native American art.”