Connecticut’s New Britain Museum of American Art will present the special exhibition “The Land Carries Our Ancestors: Contemporary Art by Native Americans” from April 19 through Sept. 12.
Artist Jaune Quick-to-See Smith (citizen of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Nation) has curated the exhibition which presents artworks by nearly 50 living Native artists that visualize the contemporary Indigenous knowledge of land. The works represent an intergenerational group of artists spanning a range of practices, including weaving, beadwork, sculpture, painting, printmaking, drawing, photography, performance and video.
“The Land Carries Our Ancestors” was previously on view at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., from Sept. 24, 2023, through January 15, 2024. This presentation will be accompanied by a range of programs and events that will be announced in the coming weeks, along with the sale of a related book published by the National Gallery in association with Princeton University Press features each artist whose work is on display.
“The New Britain Museum of American Art is grateful to Jaune Quick-to-See Smith for organizing and sharing this groundbreaking exhibition and to the National Gallery for their partnership and support,” said Brett Abbott, director and CEO of New Britain Museum of American Art. “‘The Land Carries Our Ancestors’ centers Native stewardship of the natural environment and reveals the inspiring social and cultural practices by this remarkable group of artists.”
More information on the exhibition is available on the museum’s website.
Photo: Steven Yazzie (Diné/Pueblo of Laguna, New Mexico/European descent), “Orchestrating a Blooming Desert,” 2003, oil on canvas, from the collection of Christy Vezolles. © 2003 Steven J. Yazzie. All rights reserved and reprinted courtesy of the Heard Museum; photo by Craig Smith
