Now on view at the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art at Auburn University is Jontay Kahm: Personified Existence, a new exhibition on contemporary Indigenous fashion and sculpture. The exhibition is the first solo exhibition for Kahm (Plains Cree), who in recent years has been one of the key designers at the Sunday fashion show at Santa Fe Indian Market.
Installation view of Jontay Kahm: Personified Existence on view at Auburn University in Alabama.
The exhibition includes 20 works spanning several recent collections from Kahm, who has been featured in Vogue and has dressed Killers of the Flower Moon star Lily Gladstone. One of the pieces in the exhibition is Nectar, a vital piece in Kahm’s career.
“I wanted to reinvent the ribbon skirt while remaining true to my First Nations cultural existence and the enduring tradition of ribbon work that is often found employed in powwow regalia. Rather than using ribbon as adornment, I developed what I call a panel technique, constructing the garment from layered ribbons that were measured, taped, sewn and draped by hand,” the artist says. “For me, the piece represents renewal, transformation and the possibility of carrying Indigenous traditions forward through innovation. It asks what ribbon work might look like not only today, but a thousand years from now.”
Left: Installation view of Radiance, 2024 (Ethereal Realms Collection), in Jontay Kahm: Personified Existence at Auburn University. Right: Installation view of Wind Spear, 2025 (Parsons MFA Collection).
The exhibition is organized by Lumbee scholar and guest curator Nancy Strickland Chavis. It will remain on view through December 6. —
Through December 6, 2026
Jontay Kahm: Personified Existence
The Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art at Auburn University 901 S. College Street, Auburn, AL 36849, jcsm.auburn.edu
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