Indigenous Identities: Here, Now & Always

This exhibition, curated by the renowned artist Jaune Quick-to-See Smith (Citizen of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Nation), provides a provocative survey of contemporary Native American art across media. A prolific curator, Quick-to-See Smith has curated over thirty shows, including The Land Carries Our Ancestors: Contemporary Art by Native Americans at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C (2023). Indigenous Identities features ninety living artists that represent over fifty distinct Indigenous nations and communities from across North America and includes painting, works on paper, photography, ceramics, beadwork, weaving, sculpture, installation, and video.  

Featuring works made within the last fifty years by both well-established artists and recent MFA graduates, the exhibition crosses several generations and examines themes with historic and continuing relevance to Indigenous communities in the United States including stolen lands, genocide, lost languages and cultures, and invisibility.  A celebration of Indigenous survivance, resistance, and community, the exhibition provides a provocative and visually stunning view of contemporary art.       

Organized by Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, artist and curator.

The exhibition, publication, and correlating public programs are supported by the Middlesex County Board of County Commissioners through a grant award from the Middlesex County Cultural and Arts Trust Fund, National Endowment for the Arts, Nissan Foundation, and Rutgers University. Additional support is provided by donors to Zimmerli's Major Exhibitions Fund: Kathrin and James Bergin and Sundaa and Randy Jones. Generous support for bilingual text was provided by Art Bridges Foundation’s Access for All program.