Current Exhibitions

iNgqikithi yokuPhica / Weaving Meanings: Telephone Wire Art from South Africa

November 17, 2024 - November 17, 2025

To view the exhibition trailer, click HERE. 

The spectacular art of telephone wire weaving is the subject of iNgqikithi yokuPhica / Weaving Meanings: Telephone Wire Art from South Africa at the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Foregrounding artists’ voices, Weaving Meanings shares histories of the wire medium in South Africa, from the 16th century uses as currency to the dazzling artworks wire weavers create today. From beer pot lids (izimbenge) to platters and plates, from vessels to sculptural assemblages, works in the exhibition speak to the continued development and significance of this artistic tradition, both locally in KwaZulu-Natal and to global markets and audiences.

Weaving Meanings features historical items alongside contemporary works of art, demonstrating individual and community-based ways of making and knowing. Curated in consultation with Indigenous Knowledge experts in broader Nguni and specific Zulu cultures, this exhibition sheds new light on this artistic medium, highlighting the experiences of the artists themselves through videos featuring interviews and the process of creating wirework.

The first major exhibition of telephone wire art in any North American museum, Weaving Meanings features a significant collection generously assembled and generously donated by David Arment and Jim Rimelspach, the David Arment Southern African Collection, IFAF Collection, Museum of International Folk Art. The exhibition is guest curated by Dr. Elizabeth Perrill in collaboration with community curator and lead Indigenous knowledge expert Muziwandile Gigaba.

To make a donation to help support this important project, please click HERE.

Image Credit: Telephone wire plate by Ntombifuthi (Magwaza) Sibiya, 515 x 425 mm. Museum of International Folk Art. Photo by Andrew Cerino.

Between the Lines: Prison Art & Advocacy

August 11, 2024 - September 2, 2025

Gallery closed through Thursday, October 14, due to ongoing critical electrical work. 

Between the Lines: Prison Art and Advocacy seeks to rehumanize the incarcerated through a dynamic blend of in-gallery artworks, interviews with returned citizens and allies, artmaking demonstrations, and community-co-created events, this exhibition explores human rights, recidivism, systemic oppression, rehabilitation and community empowerment.

Amidst Cries from the Rubble: Art of Loss and Resilience from Ukraine

June 23, 2024 - April 20, 2025

Amidst Cries from the Rubble delves into the heart of Ukraine’s struggle. Featuring more than sixty works, including large-scale photographs and evocative objects collected from the war-torn landscapes and communities of Ukraine, this exhibition follows the journey of a nation grappling with the daily trauma of death and destruction. Appropriating tools of war—shell casings, missile fragments, ammunition boxes—Ukrainians breathe new life into the remnants of conflict, infusing them with the spirit of human creativity.

La Cartoneria Mexicana / The Mexican Art of Paper and Paste

January 29, 2023 - March 31, 2025

Mexican cartonería is an artform that expresses human imagination, emotion, and tradition using the simple materials of paper and paste to create a diverse array of subjects such as piñatas, dolls, Day of the Dead skeletons, and fantastical animals called alebrijes.  The first exhibition to focus exclusively on a Mexican folk art tradition in many years, La Cartonería Mexicana showcases more than 100 historic sculptures from the Museum of International Folk Art’s Permanent Collection, many of which have never been displayed.   

The exhibition takes place in our Hispanic Heritage Wing, one of the few museum wings in the United States which devotes space to display the art and heritage of Hispanic and Latino culture.

Multiple Visions: A Common Bond

Permanent Exhibit
On long-term display

Multiple Visions: A Common Bond has been the destination for well over a million first-time and repeat visitors to the Museum of International Folk Art. First, second, third, or countless times around, we find our gaze drawn by different objects, different scenes. With more than 10,000 objects to see, this exhibition continues to enchant museum visitors, staff and patrons. Explore highlights from the GIRARD WING.