National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
September 22-January 15
This September the National Gallery of Art will open the much-anticipated exhibition The Land Carries Our Ancestors: Contemporary Art by Native Americans curated by artist Jaune Quick-to-See Smith (Citizen of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Nation). The exhibition highlights work by 50 living Indigenous artists and spans disciplines like weaving, beadwork, painting and more. Each work selected for the show reflects the diversity of identity and a depth of knowledge, understanding and admiration for the land, as the museum explains.
Artist Jaune Quick-to-See Smith is the first artist to curate a show for the National Gallery of Art. Courtesy the artist and Garth Greenan Gallery, New York.
Smith is the first artist to curate an exhibition at the National Gallery. In that, this groundbreaking exhibition is one that pushes for more inclusivity in museums through self-representation and changing of curatorial systems. It is the National Gallery’s first Native art show in 30 years and the first featuring contemporary Native art in 70 years.
In a press release, Smith says, “I am honored to share these powerful works that demonstrate the vital, ongoing contributions of Native artists. ‘Breaking the Buckskin Ceiling’ is not a smooth transition, but the National Gallery of Art is engaged with making change in their system of collecting art as well as demonstrating their ability to be more inclusive in their exhibitions. The Land Carries Our Ancestors is an example of more parity in their exhibition schedule and we are very pleased to be a party of this change.”
Cara Romero (Chemehuevi), Indian Canyon, 2019, archival pigment print. Courtesy the artist. © Cara Romero.
The exhibition will take place in the Upper Level of the National Gallery’s East Building. Along with the works that Smith has selected—including Cara Romero’s panoramic photograph INDIAN CANYON and others yet to be announced at the time of press—several recent NGA acquisitions will be on view. In 2022 the museum acquired its first work by Diné artist Emmi Whitehorse. The mixed media work, Fog Bank, as described by the museum, “embodies the natural harmony she observes in the landscape at her home near Santa Fe, New Mexico. It conveys her intimate knowledge of a place, in keeping with Diné philosophy.” Two other acquisitions on view are Sentinels (Large Yellow), a 2006 acrylic, oil and collage work by G. Peter Jemison (Seneca Nation of Indians, Heron Clan), and the two-part beaded work Antipodes by Marie Watt (Seneca Nation of Indians/European descent).
Marie Watt (Seneca Nation of Indians/European descent), Antipodes, 2020, vintage Italian beads, industrial felt and thread, 64. National Gallery of Art, Washington Gift of Funds from Sharon Percy Rockefeller and Senator John Davison Rockefeller IV. 2022.32.1. Courtesy the artist. Photograph by Kevin McConnell.
Emmi Whitehorse (Diné), Fog Bank, 2020, mixed media on paper on canvas, 51 x 78. National Gallery of Art, Washington. William A. Clark Fund. 2022.41.1
The National Gallery of Art is the first of two venues for the exhibition, from September 22 through January 15. Following the close of its premiere run, the exhibition will be on view in 2024 at the New Britain Museum of American Art from April 18 to September 15. Programming at NGA related to the show will be announced soon, with updates available through the museum’s website. The National Gallery, in association with Princeton University Press, will also publish a book for the exhibition that includes a poem by Joy Harjo (Muscogee), who was the 23rd United States Poet Laureate, and a conversation between Smith and Shana Bushyhead Condill (Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians), the executive director of the North Carolina-based Museum of the Cherokee Indian. —Rochelle Belsito
contact information
(202) 737-4215
nga.gov
This story appeared in the August/September 2023 issue of Southwest Art magazine.