Jill Ahlberg Yohe, PhD, is Mia’s associate curator of Native American Art. She has curated and co-curated numerous exhibitions, including “Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artists” with Teri Greeves (Kiowa) in 2019; “In Our Hands: Native Photographers 1890–Now” with Jaida Grey Eagle (Lakota) and Casey Riley, opening at Mia in fall 2023; and upcoming exhibitions of overlooked women artists: avant-garde Santa Clara potter Jody Folwell in 2024 and Dakota artist Mary Sully in 2025.
Since coming to Mia in 2014, Ahlberg Yohe has expanded its collection of Native American art with more than 100 contemporary artworks and major historic works from across Native North America. Her reinstallations of Mia’s Native American art galleries, organized with former fellows Dakota Hoska (Lakota) and Juan Lucero (Isleta Pueblo), have brought Native perspectives to bear on the museum’s collection, including innovative interpretations by artists and scholars Roy Boney (Cherokee) and Candessa Tehee (Cherokee), Andrea Carlson (Ojibwe), Alex Buffalohead (Dakota), and Josephine Hoffman (Anishinaabe).
Over the last decade, she has co-edited three major publications and written extensively on Navajo weaving, Native art theory and practice, and contemporary Native art. In seeking new initiatives and collaborations, Ahlberg Yohe aims to expand understanding and advance curatorial practices around historical and contemporary Native art.