More than 42,000 Native Americans served in the Vietnam War. That’s proportionally three times more than the general population, and yet relatively little has been catalogued and collected about Native Americans’ experiences during the war and after.
Left: Michael Naranjo (Santa Clara Pueblo), Deer Spirit, 1972, bronze. © Michael Naranjo. Tia Collection. James Hart Photography. Right: Angelo John (Navajo (Diné)), Spirit of Warriors, 1968, acrylic or gouache on board. Wheelwright Museum Collection. Photograph by Addison Doty.
A new exhibition at the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian will begin to explore those experiences through art in the exhibition Outburst: Native American Art after Vietnam, which opens October 30 in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
The exhibition opens with a question: “Can we accurately interpret the popularity and impact of contemporary Native American art from the 1970s without acknowledging the experiences of Native American veteran artists returning from the Vietnam War?”
Al Momaday (Kiowa, 1913-1981), Kiowa Medicine Men, Buffalo Clan, 1974, acrylic on paper. Wheelwright Museum Collection. Photograph by Addison Doty.
“Outburst will trace these nuanced interconnections through the artworks that characterize this period,” the museum notes. “The 1970s was the height of the Red Power movement, and saw an increased interest in, and rise in value of, traditional and contemporary Native Art. Native veterans were implicated in these processes in multiple and sometimes contradictory ways. Not all veterans could easily reconcile themselves with the activism of the time, nor the popular enthusiasm for their traditions. These complex forces are reflected in the thematic trajectories of the exhibition.”
Sections of the exhibition include “Honor,” “Trouble(d),” “Transcendence,” “Reverence” and “Sovereignty.” Each one will explore different themes and different kinds of artwork. Artists include Michael Naranjo, James Luna, Al Momaday, Dan Namingha, Greg Lewis, Yazzie Johnson and many others. —
October 30, 2026-April 17, 2027
Outburst: Native American Art after Vietnam
Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian 704 Camino Lejo, Santa Fe, NM 87505
(505) 982-4636, wheelwright.org
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