Tufawon & the Duluth Art Institute
Tufawon (2 for 1) is a Dakota/Boricua rapper, singer songwriter, producer and teaching artist from Minneapolis. For his Recomposing America project, ACF has commissioned a new EP titled Gradient to accompany two exhibits at the Duluth Art Institute running Jan. 12 – Apr. 3, 2026.
In “Fur Trade Nation,” Carl Gawboy’s watercolors highlight the everyday experiences, stories, and histories of the trade nation. And in “Ojibwe Adornment: Beads, Ribbon, Fur, Cloth,” Wendy Savage extends this dialogue through her practice in textiles and fashion, which merges Anishinaabe tradition with contemporary forms of making.
The exhibits reflect on the history of international trade and exchange in the Northern region of Minnesota. For centuries, the Anishinaabe have been central to these histories, acting as cultural connectors and facilitators of exchange between nations and communities. Together, their works invite us to consider how the past continues to shape the present — through objects, images, and narratives.
“Gradient” is out now on all major platforms. Visitors to the Duluth Art Institute can connect to an app that will allow them to listen to the EP while going through the exhibit.
Listen to the EP
Tufawon on “Gradient”
Tufawon Centers Indigenous Ways of Being Through Musical Expression
“I don’t want to create an album that everybody would expect from a Native person, right? This idea of a stereotype — so many people walk with this idea that we still live in teepees and that we still wear feathers every day. I know I don’t want people to have this image, because we’re not a monolith. We’re so much more than what people perceive us to be.”
More Coverage of “Gradient”
11 anti-ICE songs from local and national artists
About Tufawon
Tufawon (2 for 1) is a Dakota/Boricua rapper, singer songwriter, producer and teaching artist from Minneapolis. His name represents his mixed identity, and his music is an honest reflection of his life experiences, personal struggles, hopes and dreams for the future, spirituality, connectedness to the land, love, and the realities of the world. Across Turtle Island, he teaches youth music production, songwriting and recording through his program .WAV Warrior. He’s spend years community organizing and touring the world. Musically, he creates a broad spectrum of styles including hip hop, RnB, dancehall, reggaeton and afrobeats. He recently released his record When The Sun Sets, a full length album he produced entirely himself. The album reflects that energy you feel during those summer evenings at dusk. A perfect culmination of warm dance energy and cosmic vibrations. Imagine being near water, facing west as the sun sets, while listening to this reggaeton and dancehall inspired album.
About the Duluth Art Institute
For 118 years, the Duluth Art Institute has worked to enrich the daily life of the greater Twin Ports with dynamic, innovative visual arts programming that upholds excellence and displays uncompromising talent from our region and beyond. As one of the only arts institutions nationwide that is BIPOC-led in both its executive leadership and board, the DAI advocates for artists, arts learners, and arts viewers in ways that amplify narratives erased or overwritten by the dominant society and that celebrate all. The DAI accomplishes its mission through exhibition space in the downtown US Bank Building, and its Lincoln Park Building that brings educational programming and creative space to families and residents in a vibrant but historically underserved area of Duluth.
This program was supported by a grant from Jerome Foundation.