re-MARK-able Perseverance: Tattoos

re-MARK-able Perseverance: Tattoos opens at the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art on Saturday, November 14, and runs through February 21, 2027. It's an exhibition on Indigenous skin-marking traditions across North America, where tattoos have long marked identity, honored spiritual beliefs, celebrated rites of passage, signified social status, and carried stories passed between generations.

The display brings together ancestral practices with the artists and communities reviving and reimagining them today, showcasing the tools, techniques, and designs of some of the best Native tattoo artists in North America. At its heart are the stories of Native people reclaiming tattooing as an expression of identity, spirituality, community, and cultural resilience after generations of disruption and suppression. The exhibition mixes historic objects, contemporary artwork, photography, and immersive experiences.

Ten artists are featured: Corey Bulpitt (Haida), Antonio Chee (Dine/Navajo Nation), Nipinet Landsem (Manitoba Metis Federation), Missy Mahan (Tohono O'odham-Yuchi Nation), David Martin (Pokagon Band of Potawatomi), Antonio Mejia (Rarámuri/Chicano), Citlamina Mejia (Maya/Rarámuri), Xiucoatl Mejia (Maya/Rarámuri), Caitlin Newago (Bad River Ojibwe), and Sarah Ayaqi Whalen-Lunn (Inupiaq-Inuit).

Opening day, Saturday, November 14, adds a few things to the gallery visit: a tour with the artists, a panel discussion, and a live tattoo drum demonstration. The museum is at 500 West Washington Street, open 10 AM to 5 PM that day. Admission is included with the cost of museum entry, and museum members get in free every day.