Jaune Quick-to-See Smith: Memory Map

The Modern hosts the retrospective of Jaune Quick-to-See Smith (b. 1940, citizen of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Nation), organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art, an in-depth look at the work of a groundbreaking artist.

The largest and most comprehensive showing of her work to date, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith: Memory Map brings together nearly five decades of Smith’s drawings, prints, paintings, and sculptures. Smith engages with contemporary modes of art making, from her idiosyncratic adoption of abstraction to her reflections on American Pop art and Neo-Expressionism. These artistic traditions are incorporated and reimagined with concepts rooted in Smith’s own cultural practice, reflecting her belief that her “life’s work involves examining contemporary life in America and interpreting it through Native ideology.” Using satire and humor, Smith’s art tells stories that subvert commonly held conceptions of historical narratives and illuminate absurdities in the formation of dominant culture. Smith’s approach blurs traditional categories and questions why certain visual languages attain recognition, historical privilege, and value.

Across decades and mediums, Smith has deployed and reappropriated ideas of mapping, history, and environmentalism while incorporating personal and collective memories. The retrospective offers new frameworks in which to consider contemporary Native American art and show how Smith has led and initiated some of the most pressing dialogues surrounding land, racism, and cultural preservation—issues at the forefront of contemporary life and art today.

This exhibition is organized by Laura Phipps, Associate Curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art, with Caitlin Chaisson, Curatorial Project Assistant. The presentation at the Modern is organized by Curator Alison Hearst.