MINNEAPOLIS, MN.- On February 12, 2026, the Walker Art Center will open Rosy Simas: A:gajë:gwah dësa’nigöëwë:nye:’ (i hope it will stir your mind), the first of two major works by transdisciplinary artist Rosy Simas (Seneca Nation of Indians, Heron clan) commissioned by the Walker as part of her ongoing two-year residency. Simas’s practice embraces choreography, the moving image, sound, and object-making to delve into her ancestors’ histories through the lens of contemporary experience. For A:gajë:gwah dësa’nigöëwë:nye:’ (i hope it will stir your mind), Simas is creating an immersive installation that centers Onöndowa’ga:’ (Seneca Nation) views about family, community, and living in a state of peace and invites visitors into a space of personal reflection. The installation will remain on view through July 5, 2026, and will be amplified by the premiere of her commissioned, evening-length performance in May 2026 in the Walker’s McGuire Theater.
“We are thrilled to have Rosy as an artist in residence at the Walker and to work with her on a project that engages with the full depth of her expansive practice,” said Pablo de Ocampo, the Walker’s director and curator of Moving Image. “It is an exciting opportunity to bring together Rosy’s in-gallery presentation with her performance work and to capture the fluidity and dynamism of her artistry. The project also reflects the Walker’s longstanding commitment to multidisciplinary practices, and it has been a pleasure to collaborate with Rosy and my colleague, Philip Bither, the Walker’s Senior Curator of Performing Arts, to bring this project to our communities.”
A:gajë:gwah dësa’nigöëwë:nye:’ (i hope it will stir your mind) emerges from the artist’s research into her genealogy. This multi-pronged effort has included tracking her family’s geographic connections to the land now known as western New York, learning the Seneca language, and engaging with her ancestors’ roles as peacemakers. The latter aspect of her lineage feels especially resonant in the divisiveness of the current moment, and the forthcoming installation embraces the Onöndowa’ga:’ way of weaving a “mind of peace” into every aspect of life—from material culture to community gathering. Simas explains this approach to daily life: “As the body moves in different directions, the mind stays attentive to generating peace through good thoughts and intentions. In this way, every stitch, dance, song, and action is imbued with a ‘good mind’ and a peacemaking state of being.”
The installation at the Walker embodies this vision and reflects aspects of Simas’s ancestral histories. At the center of A:gajë:gwah dësa’nigöëwë:nye:’ (i hope it will stir your mind) is a constellation of suspended hand-woven vessels, each representing a specific person in Simas’s family. The vessels are made through the art of Haudenosaunee (Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy) corn husk twining, which Simas learned by studying her grandmother’s corn husk salt container, viewing corn husk pieces in museum collections, and through the help of others versed in the technique. Of the practice, Simas says, “Seneca women excelled at making corn husk containers, ceremonial masks, and tobacco baskets. Now, only a few Haudenosaunee people are working to revitalize this form. The practice of corn husk twining dwindled in the 19th century when thread became widely used; braiding corn husk and sewing it together became a more efficient way to make these utilitarian and ceremonial objects.”
The cluster of vessels in the installation is surrounded by a series of oak benches, hand-built by the artist’s brother, Jim Simas. The benches follow the form and style of what one would find in a Seneca longhouse and encourage sitting and gathering in the space. From this vantage point, visitors can look through the hanging vessels to a multi-channel video work projected onto flattened corn husks and woven deerskin lace. The video and accompanying multi-channel sound work draw on images of landscapes, field recordings, and Seneca language recordings gathered in Simas’s home territory. The surrounding perimeter of the gallery features lengths of Treaty Cloth, hand-stitched and using natural dyes, referencing the Treaty of Canandaigua in 1794 that established peaceful relations between the United States and the Haudenosaunee.
Together, these components immerse visitors in Simas’s lived cultural experience, while also inspiring contemplation, conversation, and active engagement in community-building in the face of the harsh realities of today’s politics. Simas’s performance will further illuminate these themes and create a moment of direct connection with the audience through movement.
A:gajë:gwah dësa’nigöëwë:nye:’ (i hope it will stir your mind) is curated by Pablo de Ocampo, Director and Curator of Moving Image, and Philip Bither, McGuire Director and Senior Curator of Performing Arts, in close collaboration with the artist.
Rosy Simas (Seneca Nation of Indians, Heron Clan) is a transdisciplinary, Twin Cities-based artist. Her knowledge of her Hodinöšyö:nih (Haudenosaunee) family and lineage is the underpinning of her relationship to culture and history—stored in her body—expressed through her work of moving people, images, and objects that she makes for stage and installation. Simas’s work weaves personal and collective identity themes with family, sovereignty, equality, and healing. She creates with a team of Native and BIPOC artists.
Simas’s works for stage include she who lives on the road to war, Weave, Skin(s), and We Wait in the Darkness. Her installations have been exhibited at the Onöhsagwë:de’ Cultural Center, All My Relations Arts, SOO Visual Arts, and the Weisman Art Museum. Simas is a Doris Duke Artist, Native Arts and Cultures Foundation Fellow, Forge Project Fellow, Guggenheim Fellow, McKnight Fellow, Dance/USA Fellow, United States Artists Fellow, First Peoples Fund Performing Arts Fellow, and a Joyce Awardee. Her other accolades include a Native Arts and Cultures Foundation SHIFT award and multiple awards from the New England Foundation for the Arts National Dance Project, the MAP Fund, and the National Performance Network. Simas is a 2024–2026 Walker Art Center artist in residence.
