Art for a New Understanding: Native Voices, 1950s to Now 

After setting attendance records at the Crystal Bridges Museum in Arkansas, where it was created, one of the first major exhibits to treat the work of indigenous people in the U.S. and Canada as contemporary art first and “Native American art” second comes to the Nasher with a variety of great events packed in, from a concert featuring Lakota hip-hop artist Frank Waln and others (Oct. 24) to a talk with the Hudson, New York artist Jeffrey Gibson (Nov. 21). Through Jan. 12, Nasher Museum of Art

She Who Tells a Story: Women Photographers from Iran and the Arab World 

She Who Tells a Story brings together the work of twelve female photographers from Iran and the Arab world. Glowing reviews have followed this landmark exhibit, which complicates archetypal notions of Middle Eastern and Arab identity and explores the bottomless well of women’s creativity. This is the exhibit’s last stop and its first time in a museum in the Southeast. Sep. 20–Dec. 1, Ackland Art Museum 

Toy Boom! Toys from the 1950s & ‘60s 

Boomer nostalgia will last forever, at least for a little while longer. NCMH takes a playful look back at the mid-twentieth century through the toys that reflected and constructed the era’s conception of childhood. Ensconced among wood-burning kits and model trains, Easy Bake Ovens and Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots, it’ll be like Nintendo never happened. Oct. 4–Jan. 3, North Carolina Museum of History

Scott Avett: I N V I S I B L E 

An Avett Brother gets his own solo exhibit at NCMA, and here’s the twist: While those words immediately conjure suspicions of the stunt casting of a famed home-state musician in the role of fine artist, Scott Avett’s large-scale, autobiographical oil paintings actually look good. Oct. 12–Feb. 2, North Carolina Museum of Art

Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, and Mexican Modernism from the Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection

Frida Kahlo’s work, in the words of André Breton, is a “ribbon around a bomb.” Her tumultous relationship with the cubist painter Diego Rivera has long fascinated critics and audiences alike, and the titanic legacy of the artistic partnership is undeniable. This NCMA exhibit of their work is one of the most anticipated events of the season. Oct. 26–Jan. 19, NCMA

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