Skip to Main Content

The Land Carries Our Ancestors: Contemporary Art by Native Americans

Steven Yazzie (Diné/Pueblo of Laguna, New Mexico/European descent), Orchestrating a Blooming Desert, 2003, oil on canvas, Collection of Christy Vezolles. © 2003 Steven J. Yazzie. All rights reserved. Image: courtesy of the Heard Museum, photo by Craig Smith

1 of 18

Cara Romero (Chemehuevi), Indian Canyon, 2019, archival pigment print, Courtesy of the artist. © Cara Romero

2 of 18

Gerald Clarke Jr. (Cahuilla Band of Indians), Native American Art, 2019, charred watercolor paper, Courtesy of the artist

3 of 18

G. Peter Jemison (Seneca Nation of Indians, Heron Clan), Sentinels (Large Yellow), 2006, acrylic, oil and collage on canvas, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Funds from Sharon Percy Rockefeller and Senator John Davison Rockefeller IV, 2022.22.1. © G. Peter Jemison

4 of 18

Marie Watt (Seneca Nation of Indians/European descent), Antipodes, 2020, vintage Italian beads, industrial felt, and thread, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Funds from Sharon Percy Rockefeller and Senator John Davison Rockefeller IV, 2022.32.1.

5 of 18

Emmi Whitehorse (Diné), Fog Bank, 2020, mixed media on paper on canvas, National Gallery of Art, Washington, William A. Clark Fund, 2022.41.1. © Emmi Whitehorse

6 of 18

Chris Pappan (Kanza/Lakota), Atom Heart Mother (Earth), 2016, mixed media on ledger paper, Courtesy of Travois. © Chris Pappan

7 of 18

Jim Denomie (Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe, Ajijaak Clan), Edward Curtis, Paparazzi: Chicken Hawks, 2008, oil on canvas, Loan from the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art, Indianapolis, Indiana, © Jim Denomie Estate. Photo courtesy of the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art

8 of 18

Star WallowingBull (Ojibwe/Arapaho), Modern Day Indian, 2004, lithograph crayon and colored pencil on paper, Collection Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Johnson County Community College, Overland Park, Kansas. © Star WallowingBull. Photo by EG Schempf

9 of 18

Melissa Cody (Navajo), World Traveler, 2014, three-ply wool, aniline dyes, wool warp, and six-ply selvedge cords, Stark Museum of Art, Orange, Texas, Purchase of the Nelda C. and H.J. Lutcher Stark Foundation, 2014, 2014.1.1.

10 of 18

Linda Lomahaftewa (Hopi/Choctaw), Parrots Prayer Song, 1989, lithograph, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Funds from the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation, 2023.22.1. © Linda Lomahaftewa

11 of 18

Rose B. Simpson (Pueblo of Santa Clara, New Mexico), Tonantzin, 2021, ceramic and steel, leather, brass, Tia Collection, Santa Fe, New Mexico. © Rose B. Simpson. Courtesy of the artist, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York and Jessica Silverman, San Francisco. Photography courtesy Chiaroscuro Contemporary, photo by Addison Doty.

12 of 18

Demian Demian DinéYazhi' (Diné), No Place Like Hózhó, 2017, six-color lithograph, Crow's Shadow Institute of the Arts, © 2017 Demian DinéYazhi'. Photo by Crow’s Shadow Institute of the Arts

13 of 18

Will Wilson (Diné), Auto-Immune Response no. 2, 2004, archival pigment print (digital carbon) on archival paper, Courtesy of the artist

14 of 18

Edgar Heap of Birds (Cheyenne and Arapaho Nations), Native Host for Washington D.C., 2022, mylar text on metal sign panel with metal post and floor base, Collection of the artist. © Edgar Heap of Birds. Photo by Shanna Ketchum Heap of Birds

15 of 18

Preston Singletary (Tlingit), Raven Steals the Sun, 2017, blown and sand-carved glass, Collection of Jerry Cowdrey. © Preston Singletary. Photo by Russell Johnson

16 of 18

Kay WalkingStick (Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma/European descent), Ute's Homelands, 2022, oil on panel in two parts, Courtesy the artist and Hales London and New York. © Kay WalkingStick. Photo by JSP Art Photography

17 of 18

Natalie Ball (Modoc/Klamath), Bang bang, 2019, elk hide, rabbit fur, oil stick, acrylic, charcoal, cotton, and pine, Rubell Museum. ©️ Natalie Ball. Photo courtesy of Rubell Museum. Photo by Chi Lam

18 of 18