As a young person splitting her time between the Chemehuevi Reservation in rural California and the city of Houston, photographer Cara Romero realized that most non-Natives didn’t understand what contemporary Indigenous life was like.
“It really planted a seed very early on for me that I wanted to tell stories of the beauty and the resilience of Native Americans,” says Romero, who celebrates diverse Indigenous and Native American experiences in her exhibition Panûpünüwügai (Living Light), which is debuting at the Hood Museum of Art.
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Photographer Cara Romero, an enrolled citizen of the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe, discusses Panûpünüwügai (Living Light), during a press preview on Jan. 17 at the Hood Museum of Art. Romero’s first major solo exhibition spans her work over the past 13 years and includes photos of Dartmouth students and alumni. (Photo by Sophia Scull ’25)
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The photographs Arla Lucia, left, and Jenna, reflect Romero’s use of photography as a tool of empowerment and one of the show’s themes—Rematriation: Empowering Indigenous Women. (Photo by Rob Strong ’04)
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This installation is among several works themed (Re)Imagining Americana that highlight “the importance of people from marginalized communities being able to tell their own stories, of rewriting places where we’ve been absent to be present, to retell some of our stories of Americana,” says Romero. (Photo by Sophia Scull ’25)
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Amedée Conley-Kapoi ’26, left, one of the Kānaka Maoli students with whom Romero collaborated, talks with Sháńdíín Brown ’20 at the press preview. Conley-Kapoi is pictured in the exhibit as part of the artist’s First American Girl series. (Photo by Rob Strong ’04)
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Romero discusses the exhibition as staff members, students, and alumni from the Native American Program, members of the press, and other attendees participate in the tour. (Photo by Sophia Scull ’25)
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Artist Cara Romero, left, and Jami Powell, associate director of curatorial affairs and curator of Indigenous art, discuss the exhibit of more than 60 works by Romero. The show will run through Aug. 10. (Photo by Sophia Scull ’25)
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Visitors at the opening reception for Panûpünüwügai (Living Light) on Jan. 17 take in Ancestral Futures, a gallery of playful work by Romero. (Photo by Rob Strong ’04)
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Visitors get a rare behind-the-scenes glimpse at items used on the sets of Romero’s best-known photographs. (Photo by Sophia Scull ’25)
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Visitors explore Panûpünüwügai (Living Light) during an opening reception at the Hood Museum of Art that featured live music and talks by Romero, President Sian Leah Beilock, and Powell, the associate director of curatorial affairs and curator of Indigenous art. (Photo by Rob Strong ’04)
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From left, President Sian Leah Beilock, artist Cara Romero, collaborators Teani De Fries ’24 and Hope Ushiroda-Garma ’24, and Jami Powell, associate director of curatorial affairs and curator of Indigenous art, gather during the opening reception on Jan. 17. (Photo by Rob Strong ’04)