Smoke in Our Hair: Native Memory and Unsettled Time
Smoke in Our Hair: Native Memory and Unsettled Time explores the nuanced layers of the past, present, and future within contemporary art by Native American, Alaska Native, First Nations, and Métis artists. In exploring interrelationships of memory and Indigenous understandings of time, the exhibition brings renewed focus to the artists’ practices in regard to intentionality, design, and materiality.
James Luna (Payómkawichum, Ipai, and Mexican, 1950–2018). Hi-Tech Peace Pipe, 1992. Pipes, beads, and telephone. Gochman Family Collection.
Indigenous understandings of time are cyclical and relational, in contrast to Western perceptions of time that are often linear and commodified. The intersection of memory and time in contemporary Native artistic practices reveals how temporality shapes perceptions of self, culture, and reality, as well as how the past is remembered and reimagined. Smoke in Our Hair: Native Memory and Unsettled Time explores the nuanced layers of the past, present, and future within contemporary art by Native American, Alaska Native, First Nations, and Métis artists. The twenty-seven works in this exhibition highlight some of the most influential Native artists working in the last forty years, with many of these pieces never before exhibited on the East Coast. These artists carry forward the artistic lineages of their ancestors while simultaneously sparking new visions for the future.
The title of the exhibition references the poem “Smoke in Our Hair” by Ofelia Zepeda (Tohono O’odham). She writes: “Smoke, like memories, permeates our hair,/ our clothing, our layers of skin./ The smoke travels deep/ to the seat of memory./ We walk away from the fire;/ no matter how far we walk,/ we carry this scent with us.” Using smoke as a metaphor for memories, Zepeda reminds us of the fluidity of Native memory, while pointing to its enduring intensity as it reaches the conscious and unconscious mind. As we collectively continue to experience the movement of time, we must center considerations of how Native artists view the world. In exploring interrelationships of memory and Indigenous understandings of time, the exhibition brings renewed focus to the artists’ practices in regard to intentionality, design, and materiality. The included works reference artists’ personal memory, ancestral artistic practices, history, and Indigenous futurism.
The exhibition is organized in three main sections—wood, fire, and smoke—and each gallery space references and reveals different elements of cycles. Through diverse media, including installation, sculpture, painting, and textiles, the artists manipulate materials and spaces, giving form to the intangible. These artists offer critical reflections on working between those who came before them and those who will come after. Their works call us to consider connections as well as disconnections between tradition and innovation.
This exhibition is curated by independent curator Sháńdíín Brown (Diné) in creative collaboration with Moonoka Begay (Ndéé + Diné), who also served as curatorial research assistant, and Zach Feuer.
The works in this exhibition are drawn from the collections of Art Bridges, the Forge Project, and the Gochman Family Collection.
Exhibitions are made possible by assistance provided by the County of Westchester.
Lead support for this exhibition is generously provided by Becky Gochman and Art Bridges. Additional support is provided by Larry and Jill Feldman, and Conrad and Sarah Meyer.
Public programs are supported in part by the Anita K. Hersh Philanthropic Foundation and Ellen Kozak.
Featured Artists
Saif Azzuz (Libyan-Yurok) • Teresa Baker (Mandan/Hidatsa) • Nikyle Begay (Diné) • Andrea Carlson (Grand Portage Ojibwe) • Beau Dick (Kwakwaka’wakw, Musgamakw Dzawada’enuxw First Nation) • Nicholas Galanin (Tlingit/Unangax̂) • Ishi Glinsky (Tohono O’odham) • Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill (Métis) • Sky Hopinka (Ho-Chunk Nation/Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians) • G. Peter Jemison (Enrolled member of the Seneca Nation of Indians, Heron Clan) • Sonya Kelliher-Combs (Iñupiaq and Athabascan) • Matthew Kirk (Navajo) • Kite (Oglala Sioux Tribe) • James Luna (Payómkawichum, Ipai, and Mexican) • Dakota Mace (Diné) • George Morrison (Ojibwe) • Eric-Paul Riege (Diné) • Cara Romero (Chemehuevi) • Kali Spitzer (Kaska Dena and Jewish) • Marie Watt (Seneca and German-Scot) • Tania Willard (Secwépemc) • Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun (Coast Salish and Okanagan (Syilx))
Selected objects
![<p>Eric-Paul Riege (Diné, b. 1994). <em>Hólǫ́ ‘s Rattles, the Yáhzí 1z [3-4] + [jaatłohYe’iitsoh]</em>, 2023. Woven fibers. Gochman Family Collection. © Eric-Paul Riege. Image courtesy of the artist, Bockley Gallery, and STARS Gallery.</p>](https://hudsonriver.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/exhibitions/smoke-in-our-hair/on-view-exhibition-2025-smoke-riege-1-1879x2048.jpg)
Saif Azzuz (Libyan-Yurok, b. 1987). Been here, 2023. Acrylic on canvas. Gochman Family Collection. Courtesy of the artist and Anthony Meier, Mill Valley, CA. Photography by Chris Grunder, San Francisco.
Andrea Carlson (Grand Portage Ojibwe, b. 1979). Portage, 2008. Oil, acrylic, ink, color pencil, and graphite on paper. Gochman Family Collection.
Beau Dick (Kwakwaka’wakw, Musgamakw Dzawada’enuxw First Nation, 1955–2017). Bukwus Mask, date unknown. Cedar, leather, cedar bark, feathers, and acrylic paint. Gochman Family Collection.
Nicholas Galanin (Tlingit/Unangax̂, b. 1979). I Think It Goes Like This, 2016. Wood and paint. Gochman Family Collection.
Nicholas Galanin (Tlingit/Unangax̂, b. 1979). White Flag, 2022. Trimmed polar bear rug and wood. Gochman Family Collection. Image courtesy of the artist. Photo credit: Alon Koppel; Contact: Nicholas, David Blum.
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill (Métis, b. 1979). X-tend, 2021. Pantyhose, tobacco, thread, dried flowers, and rabbit fur. Gochman Family Collection. Image courtesy Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill and Cooper Cole, Toronto.
Sky Hopinka (Ho-Chunk Nation/Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians, b. 1984). Teją́. The Sea. It’s neither our name for the great lakes or lesser lakes. It’s the sea, and we said we were from the north and from the salt. It’s too much right now. Too much like learning that my father performed the Breathings his entire life. I have recordings of him, and I heard them when I was little, and I said them myself after his death., 2020. Inkjet with hand-scratched text. Forge Project Collection, traditional lands of the Moh-He-Con-Nuck. © Sky Hopinka.
G. Peter Jemison (Enrolled member of the Seneca Nation of Indians, Heron Clan, b. 1945). In Our Language, 2019. Photo assemblage, China marker on canvas. Gochman Family Collection. Image courtesy of the artist and MoMA PS1. Photo: Steve Paneccasio.
Matthew Kirk (Navajo, b. 1978). American Spirit, 2021. Found wood, American Spirit cigarette, and metal. Gochman Family Collection. Image courtesy of the artist. Photo credit: Adam Reich.
Kite (Oglala Sioux Tribe, b. 1990). Based in Catskill, New York. Otakiya Thehpi Chapcheyazala (Black Currant Hide Manyfold), 2019. Silver thread on black leather. Gochman Family Collection. Image courtesy of the artist.
James Luna (Payómkawichum, Ipai, and Mexican, 1950–2018). Hi-Tech Peace Pipe, 1992. Pipes, beads, and telephone. Gochman Family Collection.
James Luna (Payómkawichum, Ipai, and Mexican, 1950–2018). The History of the Luiseño People: La Jolla Reservation, Christmas, 1990. Armchair, TV, DVD player, speakers, artificial Christmas tree, beer cans, telephone, Christmas lights, tabloid magazine, rug, and blanket. Gochman Family Collection.
George Morrison (Ojibwe, 1919–2000). Untitled, 1965. Oil on canvas. Gochman Family Collection. © George Morrison Estate. Courtesy of the George Morrison Estate and Bockley Gallery.
Eric-Paul Riege (Diné, b. 1994). Hólǫ́ ‘s Rattles, the Yáhzí 1z [3-4] + [jaatłohYe’iitsoh], 2023. Woven fibers. Gochman Family Collection. © Eric-Paul Riege. Image courtesy of the artist, Bockley Gallery, and STARS Gallery.
Marie Watt (Seneca and German-Scot, b. 1967). Companion Species (Remembering Song), 2021. Reclaimed wool blankets, embroidery floss, thread. Gochman Family Collection. Image courtesy of the artist. Photo: Kevin McConnel.
Tania Willard (Secwépemc, b. 1977). Vestige, 2022. Laser etching on garnet sandpaper, copper nails. Forge Project Collection, traditional lands of the Moh-He-Con-Nuck. © Tania Willard. Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid.
Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun (Coast Salish and Okanagan (Syilx), b. 1957). Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Untitled (Tree Prototype), 2019. Ink on matte board. Forge Project Collection, traditional lands of the Moh-He-Con-Nuck.
Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun (Coast Salish and Okanagan (Syilx), b. 1957). Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Untitled (Tree Prototype), 2019. Ink on matte board. Forge Project Collection, traditional lands of the Moh-He-Con-Nuck.
