Poster House Presents 'Designed to Be Red': Indigenous Poster Design Survey Curated by Brian Johnson

Key facts

• 'Designed to Be Red: Native American & Indigenous Poster Works' is on view at Poster House in New York City through February 21, 2027.
• Brian Johnson (Monacan Indian Nation) curated the exhibition after delivering the November 2022 lecture 'Posters That Sing: Notes on Indigenous Poster Design' at Poster House.
• Johnson authored the expanded companion text 'Designed to Be Red: Native American & Indigenous Graphic Works,' available at the museum's shop.
• The exhibition covers over 100 years of visual history and is divided into five sections: 'Indigenous Joy,' 'Creative Sovereignty,' 'Resistance and Protest,' 'It's Complicated,' and 'Extractive Marketing.'
• 'Extractive Marketing' is cordoned off and viewers are intentionally redirected back to 'Indigenous Joy' after viewing it; it includes a poster using a still from the 1971 'crying Indian' TV ad.
• Works on view include a stretched animal hide inscribed with the Proclamation for the Indian Occupation of Alcatraz, posters from Dakota Access Pipeline protests, and pieces on murdered and missing Indigenous women.
• Featured modern artists include Kent Monkman (Fish River Cree Nation), Jeffrey Gibson (Mississippi Choctaw/Cherokee), and SIYO-WIN (Dakota Sioux/Mexican).
• Johnson said the exhibition answers Native students asking 'Where are our books?' and stated, 'The past tense is a weapon deployed to consign us to museum dioramas.'