Designed to Be Red at Poster House in Chelsea, NYC: Two Centuries of Native Graphic Art

Poster House, the poster museum in Chelsea, is showing "Designed to Be Red: Native American & Indigenous Poster Works" in its Main Gallery from September 25, 2026, through February 21, 2027. The show draws on nearly two centuries of work from more than 60 tribes and nations.

Its starting point is a long-standing imbalance. Native designers have rarely been treated as authors of their own images, while marketing and popular storytelling produced reductive pictures of Indigenous peoples. The exhibition argues that Native graphic artists were never merely subjects of design. They shaped it, making work that is dynamic, subversive and optimistic, often alongside or in resistance to dominant colonial narratives.

The curator is Brian Johnson, a citizen of the Monacan Indian Nation. He is a designer and a partner at Polymode, and a co-founder of the online learning platform BIPOC Design History. His clients include The New York Times Magazine, A24, Nike and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ola Baldych did the exhibition design.

Works pictured on the museum's page include "Respect Our Vision" (1976) by the Menominee Solidarity Committee, Melanie Cervantes's "Ka-Kistêyimâyahkik" (c. 2015), Jeffrey Gibson and Dana Claxton's "Because Once You Enter My House, It Becomes Our House" (2021), a 2020 print by Crystal Worl, Ryan Red Corn's National Museum of the American Indian anniversary poster (2009), Akwesasne Notes' "Let Us Put Our Minds Together" (c. 1975), Rocky Fiddler's "Count Yourself In!" (1986) and Winold Reiss's "Dancing Boy/Blackfeet Indian" (1946).

The museum suggests about one hour for a visit and rates the show PG-13 for some racist and violent imagery and language. An audio guide is available. Upcoming programs include an in-person Vibrant Verbal Description Tour on October 26 (11am), a book talk and signing on October 29 (6:30pm), a First Friday design and docent tour on November 6 (3pm) and a docent tour on November 12 (5pm).

Johnson's companion book, "Designed to Be Red: Native American & Indigenous Graphic Works," is sold in the Poster House Shop. The exhibition is supported by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the New York State Council on the Arts.