PHILADELPHIA PA.- As the United States marks its semiquincentennial, multidisciplinary artist Holly Wilson, Delaware Nation Lenape and Descendent of the Delaware Tribe of Indians, has been commissioned by the Penn Museum to transform its East Entrance with a large-scale mixed-media installation dedicated to Native Futurism. It will be unveiled at a public dedication and artist-led talk on Saturday, July 11, 2026 from 2:30 to 3:30 pm.
The installation’s centerpiece will be a nearly 20-foot photorealistic painting depicting Wilson's memory of her young children catching fireflies one summer evening in Mustang, Oklahoma. Their attire reveals a pattern from a Bandolier bag that belonged to a family member who was the last official Chief of the Delaware Nation. In this work, she uses the Bandolier bag pattern as a wearable expression of Indigenous identity, culture, and resilience.
"We are celebrating 250 years of the country, but at the same time, that is a reminder of all the destruction to our communities and to the removal of us from our homelands. There are two stories here. If you do not tell the whole story, how can you have history?" Wilson says. "The theme 'Native Futurism' refers to children: what they carry, what they hold, what they tell, what stories they remember, how we give them history. That's our future. If we lose that connection, then we don't have a future—because we've lost our history."
Wilson will also handcraft numerous three-inch bronze and aluminum castings of fireflies and other decorative features to add three-dimensional elements to the painting. Other components include Wilson's photographs of plants indigenous to the Philadelphia region and archival images of Lenape people translucently applied to the glass on the building's exterior windows.
During her presentation inside Rainey Auditorium, Wilson will share more about her artistic practice in photography, painting, and metal casting—weaving in stories from her personal history and Lenape heritage.
Following the talk, guests will be guided to the East Entrance to view the permanent mixedmedia installation. This program is included with Museum admission.
"Centering Native American voices expands our nation's story with richer nuance," says Dr. Christopher Woods, Williams Director of the Penn Museum and Avalon Professor of the Humanities in Penn's School of Arts and Sciences. "Collaborating with contemporary artists opens a creative continuum for the past to stay in dialogue with the present. Holly Wilson's vision around 'Native Futurism' not only honors the history and heritage of the Lenapehoking Homeland—on which the Penn Museum stands—but also memorializes the enduring resilience of Native communities. It's a powerful vision to share as America commemorates its 250th year."
A well-known case study in Brutalist architecture designed by Mitchell Giurgola, the East Entrance opened in 1971. More than 50 years later, Wilson's vibrant, larger-than-life installation will illuminate this entryway used by thousands of Penn Museum guests, including K-12 and Penn students each year each year.
The artist will also be participating in educator workshops and a family event on October 10, 2026 for Indigenous Peoples' Day as the Penn Museum collaborates with Philadelphia Historic District's 52 Weeks of Firsts, Art Philly's What Now: 2026, and Penn and Philly's 250 Years of Shared History as part of its year-round semiquincentennial programming.
"When people see this work, I want them to see hope. Hope for the future is the biggest thing that we're missing," explains Wilson, who also created "I Am More Than Fluff," a sculpture of a little girl enclosed in feathers and glass, on view in the new Native North America Gallery. "We're still here. That's why I use kid imagery. The importance of who they are and where they fit will live on with them. That's the future."
