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Native artwork takes center stage at “An Indigenous Present,” a sprawling new show at the ICA Boston that encourages visitors to view paintings, sculptures and sound and video installations fully and not solely in the pigeonholed context of tribal heritage.

The latest tower to rise along Boston Harbor is neither a condo complex nor a hotel. Instead, it is a commanding, 24-foot-high sculpture in black bronze that stands at the entrance of the Institute of Contemporary Art Boston.

All the works speak to the ongoing struggle of African American women to claim their place in an art world and society dominated by those unlike themselves. That they succeeded is evident both in the caliber of the show and the prominence of so many black women artists today.

Curators plan exhibitions years in advance, but they have a funny way of becoming specific to our moment. On view through Sept. 30 at the ICA Boston, “We Wanted a Revolution: Black Radical Women, 1965–85” feels painfully relevant.