Good Medicine

On view March 21, 2023 through Spring 2024
Art of the North Galleries, Third Floor, East Wing

Good Medicine brings together Indigenous healers and medicine people to collectively create, share knowledge, and practice in community. Unfolding over the course of a year, with a different Alaska Native healer’s work presented each lunar cycle, this multi-disciplinary exhibition offers diverse opportunities for gathering and exchange.  

Colonialism has attacked and suppressed medicine people and Indigenous knowledge systems for hundreds of years. This exhibition addresses harmful legacies and shows how the revitalization of healing practices and traditions provides ways of being in alignment with oneself, with community, and with our planet.  

Curated by Tlingit traditional healer Meda DeWitt, Good Medicine emphasizes spiritual renewal, cultural renascence, and the importance of co-creating futures where nature can thrive.

About the Curator
Meda DeWitt’s Tlingit names are Tśa Tsée Naakw, Khaat kłaat, adopted Iñupiaq name is Tigigalook, and adopted Cree name is Boss Eagle Spirit Woman “Boss.” Her clan is Naanyaa.aayí, and she is a child of the Kaach.aadi. Her family comes from Shtuxéen kwaan (now referred to as Wrangell, Alaska). DeWitt’s lineage also comes from Oregon, Washington, and the BC/Yukon Territories. She lives on Dena’ina lands in Anchorage, Alaska, with her fiancé James “Chris” Paoli and their eight children. Her work revolves around the personal credo “Leave a world that can support life and a culture worth living for.” Her work experience draws from her training as an Alaska Native traditional healer and Healthy Native Communities Partnership capacity-building facilitator. DeWitt’s work has led to extensive travel to rural and urban communities in Alaska, Yukon Canada, and the Lower 48.