Marking the largest curatorial endeavor of artist Jaune Quick-to-See Smith’s 40-year career, Indigenous Identities: Here, Now & Always brings together more than 100 different works of Native American art, ranging from painting and photography to sculpture, jewelry and beadwork. The exhibition, which opens this February at the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University, features works by prominent names in Indigenous art like Wendy Red Star, Jeffrey Gibson, Jackie Larson Bread, Kay WalkingStick, Zoë Urness and more.
Jeffrey Gibson (Mississippi Band of Choctaw), SHE NEVER DANCES ALONE, 2021, acrylic on canvas, archival pigment on cotton, archival pigment on rice paper, inset in custom wood frame, glass beads, artificial sinew, 873⁄8 x 79½ x 29⁄16". Gochman Family Collection. Photo courtesy Max Yawney.
“Born out of years-long conversations with artist Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Indigenous Identities: Here, Now & Always is historic. Not only is it the largest exhibition of contemporary Native American art organized by Jaune in her long career as a curator, but it is also the largest museum survey of contemporary Indigenous art to date,” says Zimmerli Art Museum director Maura Reilly. “It features 97 artists from more than 50 federally recognized tribes and includes established and emerging artists. Its impact, we hope, will be immense, offering audiences, Native and non-Native alike, the opportunity to see some of the best contemporary art being produced today. The accompanying catalog, which features six essays by Native American authors, as well as an extensive interview with Jaune, will also have broad impact, now and into the future.”
Zoë Urness (Tlingit), Year of the Women, 2019, analog capture-digital chromogenic output on Fuji Crystal Archive paper with UV over laminate mounted to Dibond aluminum substrate, 40 x 30". Tia Collection, Santa Fe, NM. © Zoë Urness. Image courtesy the artist.
Marie Watt (Seneca Nation), Skywalker/Skyscraper (Twins), (detail), 2020, reclaimed wool blankets, steel I-Beams, two textile towers, 120 x 40 x 24". Tia Collection, Santa Fe, NM. © Marie Watt. James Hart Photograph. Courtesy MARC STRAUS, New York. Courtesy Marie Watt Studio.
While working on curating Indigenous Identities, Smith invited artists to help select the work that would best represent them in the exhibition with the aim of fostering a more non-linear, inclusive history of Native American art.
“For years, the media has portrayed us as a vanishing race and museums historically have ignored us. It’s an interesting moment that we find ourselves in, having captured the attention of the art world,” says Smith, who is acclaimed for her innovative painting, collage, drawing and mixed media art. “My hope with exhibitions like this one is to place Native Americans in our contemporary present and in every possible future. That means moving beyond the silos that have confined Native American art and instead embracing the infinity of Indigenous identity. This exhibition is a celebration of life.”
Jackie Larson Bread (Amsakapi Pikunni/Blackfeet), Triangular Beaded Trinket Box, Chief Joseph, 2007, beaded satin lined box, 6½ x 5½". Tia Collection, Santa Fe, NM. James Hart Photography.
Kay WalkingStick (Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma), Buffalo Country, 2018, oil on panel, 30 x 60". Tia Collection, Santa Fe, NM. © Kay WalkingStick 2018. Photo courtesy Frolick Gallery, Portland, OR.
Indigenous Identities will be on view throughout the Zimmerli’s 5,000-square-foot special exhibition space from February 1 to December 21, 2025. —
February 1-December 21, 2025
Indigenous Identities: Here, Now & Always
Zimmerli Art Museum 71 Hamilton Street, New Brunswick, NJ 08901
(848) 932-7237, www.zimmerli.rutgers.edu
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