Dr. Patricia Marroquin Norby

Photo by Scott Rosenthal, courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Dr. Patricia Marroquin Norby (Purépecha)

Our #matriarchmonday spotlight this week is Patricia Marroquin Norby. Patricia has spent years in the art curation and management spaces, most recently named the Associate Curator of Native American Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art (aka The MET) in New York City. In this role Dr. Norby will work directly on collection development and exhibition programming that places Native arts in focus and in dialogue with culturally diverse production. She will also oversee the formation of long-term partnerships and reciprocity with Indigenous American communities, scholars, artists, and audiences in the region and across the continent.

This marks an important time for The MET, who has never had a full-time Indigenous curator, and for the museum sector overall. 

“This is a time of significant evolution for the museum,” Dr. Norby said in a statement. “I look forward to being part of this critical shift in the presentation of Native American art.”

This offers a glimmer of hope in re-shaping the museum’s history of violation and plundering of sacred objects that are then placed on display. Significantly, the MET was met with protest in 2018 when the Association on American Indian Affairs demanded the removal of culturally sacred items on display. 

“Historical and contemporary Native American art embodies and confronts the environmental, religious, and economic disruptions that Indigenous communities have so powerfully negotiated—and still negotiate—through a balance of beauty, tradition, and innovation.

- Dr. Norby

We wish Dr. Norby good luck in her new position and celebrate her commitment to reshaping the museum institution.