Upcoming Exhibitions

Drawn from the Oakland Museum of California's permanent collection, Born of the Bear Dance: Dugan Aguilar's Photographs of Native California showcases the work of Native documentary photographer Dugan Aguilar. Spanning a career of more than thirty years, Aguilar's photographs illuminate the diverse and enduring voices of California's Indigenous peoples as they continue to shape the present and future of the region. Defying dominant colonial narratives, Aguilar captures the living histories, cultural traditions, and spiritual practices of Indigenous communities through visual storytelling. This exhibition celebrates contemporary Indigenous life while documenting its rich history, experience, and enduring presence within the story of California art.

About the Artist

Dugan Aguilar (1947–2018) was a celebrated Indigenous photographer from the Mountain Maidu, Pit River, and Walker River Paiute tribes whose work documents Indigenous communities throughout California and Nevada. Over a four-decade career, his photographs have been exhibited at institutions including the Oakland Museum of California, Autry Museum of the American West, Los Angeles; and de Saisset Museum, Santa Clara. Aguilar's archive of more than 20,000 negatives and prints was recently acquired by the Oakland Museum of California.

About the Curator

Drew Heath Johnson is Curator of Photography & Visual Culture at the Oakland Museum of California, where he has worked with the Museum's unparalleled collection of California photography for more than thirty years. His many exhibitions include Capturing Light: Masterpieces of California Photography, 1850 – 2000, Fertile Ground: Art and Community in California, and Dorothea Lange: Politics of Seeing, which traveled to venues in Europe and the United States. A native Californian, he has been a student of photography since purchasing his first daguerreotype at the age of fourteen.

Support for this exhibition at MMA provided by Chris and Craig Johnson and Louise O'Connor

Dugan Aguilar (1949–2018), Jennifer Bates (Northern Sierra Mewuk), Oakland Big Time, 1996, reproduction of gelatin silver print, 14 x 11 in. Courtesy of Oakland Museum of California. Gift of the family of Dugan Aguilar. 2021.7.878 R

Born of the Bear Dance: Dugan Aguilar's Photographs of Native California is organized by the Oakland Museum of California and curated by Drew Heath Johnson. Major support is provided by the Henry Luce Foundation.

For more information, please enjoy this video created by Oakland Museum of California.