History Revealed – Conversation with the Curators

Presented by Ramsey County Historical Society

Thursday January 22nd, 2026

6:00 PM-7:30 PM

Free virtual event, registration required

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Join RCHS in a conversation with the curators of the Queering Indigeneity exhibit at The M. The exhibit is part of a project that artist and curator Penny Kagigebi and supporting curator Ben Gessner have worked on for several years in collaboration with The M to amplify the stories of 2-Spirit and Native queer artists. The exhibit tells the story of an important community role that was pushed aside as the result of colonization and is being revitalized through art, storytelling, and joy. We will discuss the origin and necessity of this project, the significance of an entirely Native queer gallery show, as well as the impact of Native queer folx in Ramsey County.

Penny Kagigebi (Kaw-Gih-GAY-Bih, pronunciation aide here below headshot)is a Queer2-Spirit artist and White Earth Ojibwe direct descendant, Penny Kagigebi has committed decades to queer activism and cultural healing. Her creative practice and community teaching are focused on the endangered artforms of porcupine quillwork and birchbark basketry. She serves as co-vice chair for Manoomin Arts Initiative in Mahnomen MN.

Penny’s artwork has been regularly exhibited in the Upper Midwest since 2018. She’s been awarded fellowships from Springboard for the Arts Rural Regenerator, First Peoples Fund Cultural Capital, and also named a Walking Together Fellow in early 2026.

With Two-Spirit & Native Queer group exhibits opening in 2025 and 2026, Penny has added emerging “Curator for Community Collaboration” to her practice in partnership with the Minnesota Museum of American Art and Textile Center of Minnesota

Curator’s Statement: There is no greater freedom than to fully stand in knowledge of who we are as Two-Spirit and Native Queer relatives. The gifts we carry, our strengths and weaknesses, the medicine we bring, these all exist in great diversity. Each of us is tasked to learn about ourselves, our path, our knowledge.

Queering Indigeneity is at its core a community collaboration to uplift, affirm, and empower each other and many more, reaching beyond the walls of the M.

My goals as Curator for Community Collaboration include building a ‘container’ that nurtures and encourages my relatives. We are at a beginning in our work for Two-Spirit Cultural Reclamation. In this, we join others from many Indigenous spaces on Turtle Island (North America).

We’re who we’re meant to be in this moment with an understanding that nothing is ever really lost, everything needed has been left for us and in us.

Connect with Penny Kagigebi here.

Benjamin Gessner is a Curator and Cultural Resource Manager with twenty years of experience working for mission-driven organizations, including arts centers, cultural centers and museums. At the Minnesota Historical Society, he served as the Curator of Native American collections where he developed the nationally-recognized Native American Artist-in-Residence program, and developed numerous large-scale exhibitions. He served as Interim Curator and Director of Exhibitions at the Minnesota Museum of American Art for a year, before returning to the Board of Directors where he is now co-Chair.

Ben has an academic background in art history, nonprofit leadership, and holds a Masters of Science degree in Cultural Resource Management Archaeology, which he earned while working with Dakota communities on his thesis, Digitization of Museum Collections: Using Technology, Creating Access, and Releasing Authority in Managing Content and Resources. He has spoken on the importance of access to cultural materials by Native American descendant communities at numerous Museums nationally and internationally, including the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian and the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies. He teaches Native American Art and Art History at Minneapolis College and at State Correctional Facilities.