“Cara & Diego Romero: Tales of Futures Past" at the Figge Art Museum -- through June 8 (pictured: Alika No. 2).
Through Sunday, June 8
Figge Art Museum, 225 West Second Street, Davenport IA
On display in the Figge Art Museum's third-floor gallery from through June 8, the arresting exhibit Cara & Diego Romero: Tales of Futures Past brings together artwork by acclaimed contemporary artists Cara Romero (Chemehuevi) and Diego Romero (Cochiti). This nationally traveling exhibition boasts 18 of Diego's thought-provoking pottery pieces and lithographs, 20 of Cara's evocative photographs, including from her Indigenous Futurism series, and a new collaborative piece created exclusively for this exhibition.
This powerful Tales of Futures Past showcase explores the diversity of Indigenous identity through the distinct yet interconnected practices of Cara and Diego Romero. While maintaining individual studio practices, their work shares themes of evolving Indigenous identity. Drawing from personal perspectives and popular culture, they confront colonialism, celebrate resilience, and address social and environmental justice through culturally rooted imagery. Much of their work exists in a supernatural realm, creating empowering spaces for marginalized voices.
An enrolled citizen of the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe, Cara Romero was raised between contrasting settings: the rural Chemehuevi reservation in Mojave Desert, California, and the urban sprawl of Houston, Texas. Romero’s identity informs her photography, a blend of fine art and editorial photography, shaped by years of study and a visceral approach to representing Indigenous and non-Indigenous cultural memory, collective history, and lived experiences from a Native American female perspective.
Diego Romero is a member of the Cochiti Pueblo tribe. He makes art that transcends his Native American heritage by combining traditional materials, techniques, and forms of ancient Mimbres, Anasazi and Greek pottery with comic-book-inspired imagery, to talk about contemporary issues. Romero is a self-proclaimed “chronologist on the absurdity of human nature,” whose comic narratives often venture into taboo areas of politics, environment, racism, alcoholism, love, life, and loss. His trademark Chongo Brothers connect his work to Pop Art, inviting the viewer look at Native Indian pottery in a new way.
“This exhibition is a reminder of the power of art to reshape perceptions and worldviews,” said Vanessa Sage, Co-Senior Curator at the Figge Art Museum. “As artists and storytellers, Cara and Diego Romero encourage us to move past surface stereotypes and engage with the complexity of Indigenous identity while embracing our shared humanity and envisioning collective futures.
Organized thematically, Tales of Futures Past will feature sections dedicated to rewriting historical narratives, celebrating the power of Indigeneity, advocating environmental consciousness, exploring shared mythologies, and tracing ancestral evolution.
“We are profoundly grateful to bring Tales of Futures Past to life, an exhibition that reveals both the artistry and the shared values that Cara and Diego Romero have for Indigenous representation,” said Melissa Mohr, Executive Director and CEO of the Figge Art Museum. “This exhibition invites audiences nationwide to engage with a reimagining of Indigenous identity and to join a broader conversation on American art’s evolving landscape.”
A Tales of Futures Past companion catalogue will feature essays by scholars and activists, including America Meredith, Bruce Bernstein, PhD, Suzan Shown Harjo, and Jill Ahlberg Yohe, PhD. Organized by the Figge Art Museum, Cara and Diego Romero: Tales of Futures Past will next travel nationally to the Crocker Art Museum (Sacramento, California), the Albuquerque Museum (New Mexico), and another venue through summer 2026.
Cara & Diego Romero: Tales of Futures Past will be on display in the Davenport venue's third-floor gallery through June 8, with regular museum hours 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesdays through Saturdays (10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Thursdays) and noon to 5 p.m. on Sundays. Museum admission is $8-14, and more information is available by calling (563)326-7804 and visiting FiggeArtMuseum.org.
