Nancy Marie Mithlo is a

Chiricahua Apache Chiricahua ( ) is a band of Apache Native Americans. Based in the Southern Plains and Southwestern United States, the Chiricahua (Tsokanende ) are related to other Apache groups: Ndendahe (Mogollon, Carrizaleño), Tchihende (Mimbreño), Sehende ...

curator, writer and professor. Her exhibitions have been shown at the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

. Mithlo has worked as the chair of American Indian Studies at the Autry National Center Institute and as a professor of

gender studies Gender studies is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to analysing gender identity and gendered representation. Gender studies originated in the field of women's studies, concerning women, feminism, gender, and politics. The field ...

and American Indian Studies at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

. She is the author and editor of several books about Native Americans and

indigenous art Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention * Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band * Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehor ...

Biography

Mithlo is

, is enrolled in the

Fort Sill Apache Tribe The Fort Sill Apache Tribe is the federally recognized Native American tribe of Chiricahua Warm Springs Apache in Oklahoma. Government The Fort Sill Apache Tribe is headquartered in Apache, Oklahoma. Tribal member enrollment, which requires a mi ...

, and has family in

Apache, Oklahoma Apache is a town in Caddo County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 1,444 at the 2010 census. History Before opening the Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache Reservation on August 1, 1901, for unrestricted settlement by non-Indians, Land Lott ...

. She was born in 1961 and grew up in

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

. Mithlo attended the

Institute of American Indian Arts The Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) is a public tribal land-grant college in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The college focuses on Native American art. It operates the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA), which is housed in the historic S ...

and earned her bachelor's degree from

Appalachian State University Appalachian State University (; Appalachian, App State, App, or ASU) is a public university in Boone, North Carolina. It was founded as a teachers college in 1899 by brothers B. B. and D. D. Dougherty and the latter's wife, Lillie Shull Dough ...

in 1986, and her master's degree in anthropology from

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

in 1988. In 1993, she earned a doctorate in

cultural anthropology Cultural anthropology is a branch of anthropology focused on the study of cultural variation among humans. It is in contrast to social anthropology, which perceives cultural variation as a subset of a posited anthropological constant. The portma ...

from Stanford University.

Work

Mithlo has worked as the chair of American Indian Studies at the Autry National Center Institute. She has worked as a professor of

and American Indian Studies at the

. Mithlo has helped curate and create nine exhibits at the

. Two exhibitions, "Air, Land, Seed" and "Octopus Dreams," were shown in part in the 2013 Venice Biennale. In the exhibition, "The People's Home: The United American Indian Involvement Photographic Project" held at These Days Gallery in 2019, Mithlo looks into how Native Americans live in modern

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. Mithlo edited ''Manifestations: New Native Art Criticism'' in 2011. '' Native People's Magazine'' wrote that ''Manifestations'' contained "an excellent cross-section of the Indigenous art community today." The ''

Wíčazo Ša Review The ''Wíčazo Ša Review'' ("Red Pencil" in Lakota) is a biannual peer-reviewed academic journal of Native American studies. The journal was established in 1985 by editors-in-chief Elizabeth Cook-Lynn (Dakota Santee), Dr. Beatrice Medicine (Lakot ...

'' discusses how ''Manifestations'' focuses on how mentorship and continuity are important aspects of Indigenous art. In 2014, Mithlo edited a book about the work of

Horace Poolaw Horace Poolaw (1906–1984) was a Kiowa photographer from Mountain View, Oklahoma. Background Horace Poolaw, also known as Py-bo, was born on March 13, 1906 in Mountain View, Oklahoma. Poolaw was a notable Kiowa photographer and one of the first ...

, ''For a Love of His People: The Photography of Horace Poolaw''. The ''

Daily Beast ''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. It was founded in 2008. It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief from 2018 to 2021. In a 20 ...

'' called the book "an outstanding work of scholarship and a commanding visual document." Mithlo edited ''Making History'', published by UNM Press, in late 2020. Mithlo describes the purpose of ''Making History'' is to provide "a scaffold of resources for emerging Native arts scholars, Native and non-Native readers, students, and academics who wish to understand the tenor and tone of what this field is about and how to approach teaching and learning about American Indian arts."

Selected bibliography

* * * * *''Making History''. University of New Mexico Press. 2020. ISBN 978-0826362094.

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mithlo, Nancy Marie Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Chiricahua Apache people Institute of American Indian Arts alumni Institute of American Indian Arts faculty Stanford University alumni University of California, Los Angeles faculty American women curators American curators Native American women academics American women academics Native American academics 21st-century American women writers Native American curators Appalachian State University alumni 20th-century Native American women 20th-century Native Americans 21st-century Native American women 21st-century Native Americans 20th-century American women writers Writers from Mississippi