In Conversation: Cara Romero and Jami Powell
February 26, 2026 | 6:30–7:30pm
Whiteman Hall
TICKETS: Free for Members | Included with General Admission
In celebration of the exhibition opening, Phoenix Art Museum welcomes artist Cara Romero in conversation with Jami Powell, Associate Director of Curatorial Affairs and Curator of Indigenous Art at the Hood Museum of Art. Together, they will discuss Cara Romero: Panûpünüwügai (Living Light), a presentation that radiates the brilliance, diversity, and sovereignty of Native American and Indigenous peoples.
About the Artist:
Cara Romero (b. 1977, Inglewood, CA) is known for dramatic fine art photography that examines Indigenous life in contemporary contexts. An enrolled citizen of the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe, Romero was raised between contrasting settings: the rural Chemehuevi reservation in the Mojave Desert, California, and the urban sprawl of Houston, Texas. Informed by her identity, Romero’s visceral approach to representing Indigenous and non-Indigenous cultural memory, collective history, and lived experiences results in a blending of fine art and editorial styles. Maintaining a studio in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Romero regularly participates in Native American art fairs and panel discussions. In 2019, she was featured on PBS’s Craft in America. Her award-winning work is included in numerous public and private collections both domestically and internationally, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art, The Whitney Museum of American Art, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Amon Carter Museum, the Peabody Essex Museum, and Forge Project. Romero travels between Santa Fe and the Chemehuevi Valley Indian Reservation, where she maintains close ties to her tribal community and ancestral homelands.
About Jami Powell:
Jami Powell is based at Dartmouth College, where she is Associate Director of Curatorial Affairs and Curator of Indigenous Art at the Hood Museum of Art and Senior Lecturer in the Department of Native American and Indigenous Studies. A citizen of the Osage Nation, she holds a PhD in anthropology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research focuses on American Indian expressive forms through an interdisciplinary lens. She has published widely in venues such as Museum Anthropology, Journal of Anthropological Research, Museum Management and Curatorship, Museum Magazine, and First American Art Magazine.