This Land Calls Us Home: Global Ministries Opens Exhibit at Atlanta Airport

Native American identity and experience is the focus of the Atlanta Airport Exhibit

This week at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, our UMC General Board of Global Ministries (Global Ministries)  and Native American Comprehensive Plan celebrated the unveiling of "This Land Calls Us Home," an exhibit featuring the work of 26 contemporary Native American artists and designers.

The November 6 event included representatives from the airport, the City of Atlanta Government, Global Ministries, and the Native American Comprehensive Plan of The United Methodist Church.

Featuring more than 60 pieces of artwork, the exhibit is presented by Global Ministries in collaboration with the UMC's Native American Comprehensive Plan, which supports and amplifies the voices of Indigenous peoples to promote increased public understanding of contemporary Native American identity and experience. The exhibit is part of the ATL Airport Art program and will be on display for one year in the gallery space of Concourse T North.

The works express the visions and voices of Cherokee, Mvskoke, and other Native Americans living within, near and beyond the Southeastern homelands.

The project was led by the Rev. Chebon Kernell, a Seminole/Muscogee* scholar and educator. When he conceived the project, he led Native American programming for Global Ministries and now serves as executive director of the Native American Comprehensive Plan of The United Methodist Church. In 2020, with the support of Global Ministries and its related Native American programs, Kernell led a team of museum professionals and other Native American scholars to develop an exhibit that would convey the ongoing ties Native American people maintain with homelands in the Southeastern United States. Native American leadership on Global Ministries’ board, as well as from other boards of United Methodist agencies and entities, provided perspective and guidance for the exhibit.

“This installation will be seen by tens of thousands of daily airport visitors,” said Kernell. “We have also launched an accompanying website for the exhibit, umcmission.org/thisland, that will provide global reach for this exhibit, further amplifying the voices of Native American and Indigenous peoples.”

Traveling through ATL? Stop by and see the five display cases in Concourse T North, near Gates T12 - T15. To learn more about the exhibit and its artists, visit https://umcmission.org/thisland/.

*”Muskogee” is the way the tribal name is often spelled in Oklahoma while “Muscogee” is the form often used in the homelands of Georgia and Alabama. Alternately, the Native American language spelling “Mvskoke” is often used today. All forms are often followed by the term “Creek” the name given to the tribal group by Europeans long ago and still familiar to many.