November 10, 2026, Santa Rosa, CA - The Santa Rosa Junior College (SRJC) Multicultural Museum presents Standing in Her Power: Portraits Beyond the Colonial Frame, a contemporary photography exhibition honoring the individuality, resilience, and contributions of 12 Native women. The exhibit invites visitors to consider the difference between being seen and being understood, and who ultimately holds the power to define an image.

Spanning ages 20 to 81, the women featured in the exhibition represent a diversity of lives, identities, and experiences that challenge any single representation of Indigenous womanhood. They are land defenders, language keepers, dancers, bead workers, mothers, daughters and artists, each with their own relationship to culture, community, land and identity.

Julian Cook, an SRJC anthropology student and co-creator of the project, conceived the exhibition shortly after she began working at the SRJC Multicultural Museum. While cataloging the museum's book collection, Cook came across Edward S. Curtis: The Women, a collection of photographs that, despite being shaped by romanticized notions of Native peoples as a "vanishing race," also captured the dignity and everyday lives of Native women.

"I don't want to replace one narrow image of Native womanhood with another," Cook explains. "I want to challenge the idea that there is any single look of a Native woman, and to give these women the opportunity to decide for themselves how they wanted to be seen."

To bring that vision to life, the museum collaborated with San Francisco-based Mexican American photographer Alexa "LexMex" Treviño, whose work explores cultural identity, community and representation through portraiture. Her previous projects include Corazón de la Misión, a series of monumental public portraits honoring members of San Francisco's Latinx community.

Each woman featured in Standing in Her Power exercised complete creative control over her portrait, choosing how to present herself rather than conforming to someone else's expectations of what a Native woman should look like. The accompanying stories offer a more personal perspective on the connections between identity, culture, ancestry, and community.

For participant Buffie Campbell, those connections are deeply rooted in the land and the traditions passed down through generations.

"Our culture, our ancestry, our knowledge holds value that money can't buy," Campbell said. "Our roots can't be seen, but our roots still connect us to these places, and we will never let go."

For Elissa Thompson, who works in a traditionally male-dominated field, expressing her individuality is part of how she approaches her work and life.

"I worked hard to get where I am now, and if there's anything I've learned in getting here, it's that there's no point if you're not having fun," Thompson said.

Together, the 12 portraits offer distinct expressions of what it means to be a Native woman today, while giving each participant the opportunity to share her own story and determine how she is represented.

Standing in Her Power: Portraits Beyond the Colonial Frame opened Nov. 3 and runs through March 16, 2027, at the SRJC Multicultural Museum on the Santa Rosa campus. The public is invited to attend an opening reception on Saturday, Nov. 14, from 4 to 6 p.m. Admission to the museum is free. Parking is $4 per vehicle for 24 hours.