With a mix of historic artifacts and recently crafted works, a new exhibit at the Greenpoint Library and its accompanying calendar of public programs connects the past and present of the Lenape people.

The exhibit, Lenapehoking, is a partnership between the Brooklyn Public Library and the Lenape Center and is the first Lenape-curated exhibition of Lenape works in the city, according to the library. Brooklyn, and New York City, is the center of the Lenape homeland, which stretches from Western Connecticut to Eastern Pennsylvania and from the Hudson Valley to Delaware.

Taking its title from the Lenape word for Lenape homeland, the exhibition includes rarely seen 19th century beaded bandolier bags that once served as an identifier of the wearer’s origins. The bags are displayed alongside contemporary items crafted by Lenape artists, including tapestries and a dramatic turkey feather cape. The library’s new rooftop teaching garden will serve as an extension of the gallery space and feature indigenous fruit trees like those once cultivated by the Lenape in Manhattan.

installation view of exhibit
Photo by Gregg Richards

The exhibition, curated by Joe Baker, an enrolled member of the Delaware Tribe of Indians and Executive Director of the Manhattan-based Lenape Center, opens at the revamped Greenpoint Library on Thursday, January 20 with a virtual event and is on view through April. A mix of virtual and in-person events scheduled over the next several months includes panel discussions, poetry readings and lectures.

The exhibition is open Wednesdays through Sundays in the library’s exhibition space at 107 Norman Avenue. To RSVP for the virtual opening or any of the upcoming events, visit the online exhibition page.

details of objects in exhibition
Left: Turkey Feather Cape, 2021 by Rebecca Haff Lowry. Photo by Kim Mettler. Right: Bandolier Bag, 2014 by Joe Baker. Photo via Joe Baker

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