Smoke in Our Hair: Native Memory and Unsettled Time

Western perceptions of time are often linear and commodified, while Indigenous understandings of time are cyclical and relational. 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.

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))