Join artist Epiphany Couch, a spuyaləpabš (Puyallup), Yakama, and European artist, from 2:00-3:00pm in the Event Space for a conversation exploring Native representation in contemporary art with panelists Bethany Palkovitz, an art historian and PhD candidate at the University of Washington, and Christian Waguespack, Director of Curatorial Affairs at the Museum of Northwest Art in La Conner. Moderated by Jessica Wilks, Director of Curatorial and Interpretation at Tacoma Art Museum, this discussion brings together the perspectives of a practicing artist, an art historian, and a museum professional to examine how Indigenous artists are reclaiming narratives, challenging stereotypes, and expanding public understanding of Native identity through contemporary visual culture.
Drawing from their distinct professional roles and experiences, each panelist will offer their perspective on the importance of self-representation, the relationship between cultural traditions and artistic innovation, and the role museums and academic institutions play in supporting and amplifying Indigenous voices.
This panel discussion is presented in conjunction with TAM’s exhibitions Project NW: Epiphany Couch: č’adac (Inheritance) and Kent Monkman: Death of Adonis.
Learn More about 21 years of In The Spirit.
Epiphany Couch (@epiphany_couch_art )(she/her) is an interdisciplinary artist and writer whose work explores generational knowledge, storytelling, and our relationships with the natural and spiritual worlds. Working across photography, beadwork, weaving, and collage, she reinterprets traditional forms to create images, installations, and sculptural works that engage ancestral knowledge and invite new ways of understanding. Her practice is rooted in unconventional collaboration—across time, between generations, and with the natural world—recognizing these relationships as vital to sustaining memory, culture, and identity.
Couch is spuyaləpabš (Puyallup), Yakama, and Scandinavian/Mixed European, and grew up in caləłali (Tacoma, Washington). Her work has been acquired for public and private collections and exhibited in museums, galleries, and art fairs across the United States. Couch lives and works in Portland, Oregon, where she is a member of the artist-run gallery Carnation Contemporary, the Columbia Basin Basketry Guild, and the Cyme Collective.
Christian Waguespack (@Christian_waguespack) is an art historian and museum professional currently serving as the Director of Curatorial Affairs and Curator of Northwest Art at the Museum of Northwest Art (MoNA) in La Conner, Washington. He stepped into this role in March 2025 to oversee the museum’s collections, exhibitions, research and scholarship, and community programming.
Waguespack holds Masters degrees in Art History and Museum Studies from the University of New Mexico and completed Ph.D. work at the University of Arizona, specializing in 20th-century and Contemporary American art, museum studies, and the history of photography.
Bethany Palkovitz (@bpalk) is an art historian in the doctoral program in Art History and graduate certificate program in American Indian and Indigenous Studies at the University of Washington. Palkovitz is a Mellon Indigenous Arts Graduate Fellow and has held curatorial research assistant appointments at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Burke Museum’s Bill Holm Center for the Study of Northwest Native Art.