Kylie Linh Hoang had been looking at a lot of faces.

As the assistant curator at the Minnesota Museum of American Art, she co-created the downtown museum’s new flagship exhibition of its permanent collection. The show, “Here, Now,” opens on a pair of gallery walls with some two dozen portraits looking down upon visitors, welcoming them in.

Behind the scenes, as Hoang was considering the hundreds of portraits in the M’s collection, many of which ultimately fell outside the scope of the “Here, Now” show, she found herself reflecting on the invisible relationship between the subject of a portrait and the artist. A portrait doesn’t only depict what a person looks like — instead, more precisely, it depicts how one person perceives another.

“Even if you do feel you’re looking your best, it’s kind of scary to let somebody that close to you,” she said. “There’s a sort of reciprocity in that process. The portrait tells you just as much about the painter or the artist as it tells you about the subject.”

Minnesota Museum of American Art assistant curator Kylie Linh Hoang sits on a bench in an exhibition she created, called “When You’re In The Mirror…,” on May 21, 2025. Artworks in this particular gallery are hung a few inches lower than is common, which Hoang said is meant to challenge traditional ideas of who is prioritized in art museums. (Courtesy of the Minnesota Museum of American Art)

This is the idea behind the adjacent exhibition “When You’re In The Mirror…,” Hoang’s first solo-curated show, on view through Aug. 3 following a four-month extension. If we solely pay attention to the subjects of portraits, the exhibition argues, perhaps we’re missing part of the story.

To illustrate her point, Hoang points out one of the exhibit’s vignettes, in which four works are shown together: One finished painting and one unfinished sketch each by Clara Mairs and Clement Haupers, romantically linked St. Paul artists and educators in the early 20th century, with both artists’ pairs of works depicting the other.

In Mairs’ sketch of Haupers, the man’s body is drawn only in quick, gestural outlines but, in his face, she’s careful to render the mustache and arched eyebrows that also show up in her realistic painting of him. More than just confirming that Haupers had a mustache and eyebrows, this could lead us to infer that these were particularly important characteristics of his from the perspective of the person who probably knew him most intimately, which Hoang said illuminates the more tender moments of their relationship.

“Traditionally when you talk about portrait shows, there’s an expectation of very serious faces in gold frames; this person was a general in a war, and this person was a very well-to-do lady philanthropist,” Hoang said. “I didn’t want to recreate that.”

By redirecting focus back onto the artists and their relationships with their subjects, Hoang aims to call attention to and push back against common tropes of depicting men as powerful and stately and strong, and women as anonymous “symbols for other things; virginity, purity, sacrifice, motherhood,” she said.

Minnesota Museum of American Art assistant curator Kylie Linh Hoang discusses Leslie Barlow’s 2020 painting “Alex, at Juxtaposition Arts,” at the museum on May 21, 2025. The exhibition “When You’re In The Mirror…,” Hoang’s first solo curated show, puts portraits in the context of the relationships between their subjects and the artists behind the canvas. (Courtesy of the Minnesota Museum of American Art)

In a portrait of a person in a cowboy hat riding a horse through the desert — made with glitter, and in a crocheted frame — what is artist Moises Salazar saying about gender and masculinity? In the 1922 painting “Dewey Albinson,” Frances Cranmer Greenman depicts her artist friend and student in his studio. Shown directly alongside it is Leslie Barlow’s 2020 painting “Alex, at Juxtaposition Arts,” in which the title man, a graffiti artist, stands in front of his work. What is Barlow, and also Hoang, saying here about what an ‘artist’ looks like, what art is legitimized and how that might change over time?

The exhibition’s title, “When You’re In The Mirror…,” is a cheeky nod to the opening track of pop singer Charli XCX’s album “Brat” — itself a form of self-portrait, Hoang pointed out. And at the end of the exhibition, you’ll find an actual mirror, overlaid with the second half of the show’s titular lyric: “Do you like what you see?”

“I am not a subtle person; I think we’ve established that,” Hoang said, laughing. “I wanted folks to think about how they would feel seeing their faces in this space, too.”

In fact, though, one of the most conceptually interesting aspects of the show is also among its most subtle. Traditionally, museum artworks are hung with their centers about 60 inches from the floor — roughly corresponding to eye-level of the average man, Hoang said — but she positioned the works in “When You’re In The Mirror…,” at an average of about 54 inches from the ground.

“I was thinking about who gets the best view,” she said. “I’m 5’5 — even though I have big shoes on today — and, why don’t I get a good view of things? So the show is actually low, because I was thinking about who’s being prioritized during this viewing experience.”

“When You’re In The Mirror…” is on view at the M’s Nancy and John Lindahl Gallery through Aug. 3. Admission to the museum (350 N. Robert St.), located in the Pioneer Endicott Building and accessible either from the street or skyway, is free during its opening hours, Thursdays to Sundays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

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Well, Michael Boxall, it appears to be happening against your wishes.

The Minnesota United captain is the second-highest vote-getter among center backs for the MLS All-Star Game in Austin, Texas, on July 23. Boxall is behind only Vancouver’s Tristan Blackmon at that position, the league shared Wednesday.

Players often want honors and the praise that comes with them, but that does not include Boxall, despite the fact that the 10-year veteran has never appeared in an MLS All-Star Game.

MNUFC’s get-out-the-vote campaign for Boxall has been in full swing for a week — even if the gruff Kiwi didn’t give it his blessing.

“I want zero extra attention,” Boxall said about the Loons’ social media posts after Minnesota’s scoreless draw with first-place Vancouver last week.

But the Loons’ overall success gives the push for Boxall’s candidacy. MNUFC sits in second place in the Western Conference on the back of its league-leading eight shutouts.

Boxall, who is fourth in MLS in clearances (112), is looking to the fall, not the midsummer showcase in Texas.

“Midseason awards: it’s not why we play this game,” he said. “I think you want to be up for the awards at the end of the season. So we just need to keep pushing and make sure we are improving.”

The Loons’ stout defense has also boosted the chances that goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair makes his second all-star appearance.  After making it in 2022 — when it was held at Allianz Field — St. Clair had a much more expected answer when asked about his chances this season.

“I think I’ve been one of the top goalies so far … this year, and it would be a great achievement not just for myself but for the team,” he said last week. “It’s definitely something that I’d like to be a part of, and I’m showing to definitely be in the conversation and be on that final roster.”

St. Clair comes in second among ‘keepers behind only Orlando’s Pedro Gallese as of Wednesday morning.

No other Loons were among the top five vote-getters at the league’s seven different positions.

A case can be made for forward Tani Oluwaseyi, who ranks Top 10 in MLS with eight goals, and attacking midfielder Joaquin Pereyra, tied for fourth with seven total assists.

Fellow attacking mid Robin Lod was the Loons’ lone all-star last season, but a repeat showing is a long shot. Lod stacked up 22 goal contributions (seven goals and 15 total assists) last season, but has only six (two goals and four total assists) so far this year.

But most important for MNUFC, Lod notched a goal and an assist in the Loons’ best win of the season, 3-2 over Seattle on Sunday.

“I’m sure (Lod) would much rather be kind of replicating how he started last year stats-wise, but we know we’ve got players (for whom) things aren’t going to show up statistically. But we respect the effort,” Boxall said. “For example, Dayne has got a bunch of clean sheets, but Tani — the front guys — are working their (tails) off to help that out.”

By GRAHAM LEE BREWER

NEW YORK (AP) — Miguel Guimaraes Vasquez fought for years to protect his homeland in the Peruvian Amazon from deforestation related to the cocaine trade, even laboring under death threats from drug traffickers.

A leader in an Indigenous rights group, Vasquez said such efforts were long supported by financial assistance from the U.S. Agency for International Development, which spent billions of dollars starting in the 1980s to help farmers in Peru shift from growing coca for cocaine production to legal crops such as coffee and cacao for chocolate. The agency funded economic and agricultural training and technology, and helped farmers gain access to international markets.

But the Trump administration’s recent sweeping cuts to the agency have thrown that tradition of U.S. assistance into doubt, and Indigenous people in the Amazon worry that without American support there will be a resurgence of the cocaine market, increased threats to their land and potentially violent challenges to their human rights.

“We don’t have the U.S. government with us anymore. So it can get really dangerous,” said Vásquez, who belongs to the Shipibo-Konibo people and is vice president of the Interethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Rainforest. “We think the situation is going to get worse.”

Several Indigenous human rights defenders have been killed trying to protect their land, Vasquez said, and in some of those cases U.S. foreign aid provided money to help prosecute the slayings. “We really needed those resources,” he said.

Sweeping cuts began in January

When Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, began dismantling USAID shortly after President Donald Trump began his second term, it all but eliminated U.S. foreign aid spending, including decades of support to Indigenous peoples around the world.

USAID’s work with Indigenous peoples sought to address a variety of global issues affecting the U.S., according to former employees. Its economic development efforts created jobs in South America, easing the need for people to work in illicit drug markets and reducing the likelihood they would migrate to America seeking jobs and safety. And its support for the rights of Indigenous peoples to steward their own land offered opportunities to mitigate climate change.

That included Vásquez’s organization, which was about to receive a four-year, $2.5 million grant to continue fighting illicit activity that affects Indigenous people in the region. Vásquez said that grant was rescinded by the new administration.

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In January, DOGE launched a sweeping effort empowered by Trump to fire government workers and cut trillions in government spending. USAID, which managed about $35 billion in appropriations in fiscal year 2024, was one of his prime targets. Critics say the aid programs are wasteful and promote a liberal agenda. Trump, Musk and Republicans in Congress have accused the agency of advancing liberal social programs.

“Foreign assistance done right can advance our national interests, protect our borders, and strengthen our partnerships with key allies,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement in March. “Unfortunately, USAID strayed from its original mission long ago. As a result, the gains were too few and the costs were too high.”

Musk last week announced his departure from the Trump administration, marking the end of a turbulent chapter that included thousands of layoffs and reams of litigation.

Former USAID employees said political pressure from the U.S. often kept foreign governments from violating some Indigenous rights.

In the three months since thousands of foreign aid workers were fired and aid contracts canceled, the Peruvian government has moved quickly to strip Indigenous people of their land rights and to tighten controls on international organizations that document human rights abuses. It’s now a serious offense for a nonprofit to provide assistance to anyone working to bring lawsuits against the government.

The National Commission for Development and a Drug-Free Lifestyle, the country’s agency that fights drug trafficking, did not respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.

“The impact was really, really strong, and we felt it really quickly when the Trump administration changed its stance about USAID,” Vásquez said.

The U.S. spends less than 1% of its budget on foreign assistance. Tim Rieser, a senior foreign policy aide in the Senate who works for Democratic Vermont Sen. Peter Welch, called DOGE’s cuts to USAID a “mindless” setback to years of work.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

Agency reached Indigenous communities worldwide

USAID’s work reached Indigenous communities around the world. It sought to mitigate the effects of human rights abuses in South America, created programs in Africa to enable Indigenous people to manage their own communities and led the global U.S. effort to fight hunger.

One of the most recent additions to USAID’s work was incorporating international concepts of Indigenous rights into policy.

Rieser, for instance, was responsible for crafting legislation that created an adviser within USAID to protect the rights and address the needs of Indigenous peoples. The adviser advocated for Indigenous rights in foreign assistance programs, including actions by the World Bank.

“That provided Indigenous people everywhere with a way to be heard here in Washington,” Rieser said. “That has now been silenced.”

That adviser position remains unfilled.

In this photo provided by Vy Lam shows Lam, a former adviser on Indigenous peoples at the U.S. Agency for International Development, on the floor of the United Nations during Sec. of the Interior Deb Haaland’s speech at the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues on April 17, 2023, in New York. (Vy Lam via AP)

Vy Lam, USAID’s adviser on Indigenous peoples, who said he was fired in March as part of the DOGE downsizing, said the idea of Indigenous rights, and the mandate to recognize them in foreign operations, was new to USAID. But it gained momentum under President Joe Biden’s administration.

He said concepts such as “free, prior and informed consent” — the right of Indigenous people to give or withhold approval for any action that would affect their lands or rights — were slowly being implemented in American foreign policy.

One of the ways that happened, Lam said, came in the form of U.S. political pressure on foreign governments or private industry to negotiate mutually beneficial agreements between Indigenous peoples and their governments.

For instance, if an American company wanted to build a hotel in an area that could affect an Indigenous community, the U.S. could push for the deal to require Indigenous approval, or at least consultation.

“We had that convening power, and that is the thing that I grieve the most,” Lam said.

U.S. foreign aid workers were also able to facilitate the reporting of some human rights violations, such as when a human rights or environmental defender is jailed without charges, or Indigenous peoples are forced off their land for the establishment of a protected area.

Money supported attendance at international meetings

In some cases, USAID supported travel to the United Nations, where Indigenous leaders and advocates could receive training to navigate international bodies and document abuses.

Last year, under the Biden administration, USAID awarded a five-year grant to support Indigenous LGBTQIA people through the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Indigenous People, an agency that offers financial support to Indigenous peoples to participate in the U.N.

At $350,000 per year, it was the largest grant from any member state in the U.N., fund Secretary Morse Flores said. The money would have paid for attendance at the U.N. and other international bodies to report human rights abuses and to testify on foreign policy.

In February, the fund received notice that the grant would be terminated. The State Department does not plan to fulfill its pledge to fund the remaining four years of the grant.

In most cases, people receiving assistance to attend major meetings “are actual victims of human rights violations,” Flores said. “For someone who’s unable to come and speak up, I mean, it’s really just an injustice.”

This story was published in partnership with Grist, a nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to reporting on climate change.