Leonard Harmon: People of the Good River

Leonard Harmon: People of the Good River
Oct 9, 2026 – Jan 24, 2027

United States United States — Art Center
Lois & Richard Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art 44 E. 6th Street
Cincinnati, OH 45202

The Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati presents Leonard Harmon: People of the Good River, on view from 9 October 2026 through 24 January 2027, an exhibition that challenges misconceptions of Indigenous culture by capturing the vibrant, everyday realities of Indigenous people living in Cincinnati today. Grounded in the legacy of the Ohi-yo—the Seneca word for "Good River," from which Ohio derives its name—the show pairs candid portrait photography with hand-pulled screen printing on paper. Each physical layer of ink builds a portrait of modern life, work, and community, moving past romanticized tropes to celebrate an enduring present.

Leonard Harmon, a citizen of the Lenape Tribe of New Jersey and the Nanticoke Tribe of Delaware, currently resides on the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indian Reservation in Oregon. He comes from a long line of artists and craftsmen: his father was a furniture maker, his uncle Leonard Allen Harmon was a portrait artist featured in the Heard Museum of Arizona, and his mother and grandmother practiced beadwork. Harmon attended Johnson & Wales University, one of the nation's premier culinary schools, before touring the country as a DJ. He began exploring traditional and contemporary mixed media art around 2010, drawing inspiration from his ancestors to infuse modern twists into traditional arts.

The exhibition's title references the Seneca name for the Ohio River, which has defined the region's history for more than 12,000 years. The Ohio River Valley was home to the Iroquois, Miami, Shawnee, and other Indigenous nations who sought to hold the land for their villages and hunting grounds. Harmon's work reclaims this narrative by presenting Indigenous people not as figures trapped in history books but as active participants shaping Cincinnati's contemporary story. His layered technique—combining photography with screen printing—mirrors the complexity of identity itself, built up through multiple passes and perspectives.

Harmon has exhibited work at institutions including the Camden Historical Society Museum, Toledo Museum of Art, Penn Treaty Museum, Nanticoke Indian Museum, and Amsterdam Museum. He has curated powerful shows in Oregon and Ohio, and his work appears in the 21c Museum Hotel in Cincinnati as part of Refuge: Needing, Seeking, Creating Shelter. As a Men's Traditional Woodlands style pow-wow dancer, he teaches traditional native craft around the country and remains deeply involved in tribal traditions on the Siletz Reservation. "They say the truth is in the eye of the beholder," Harmon has said, "but who's looking?"

Image: © Leonard Harmon


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