“Indigenous Identities: Here, Now & Always,” on exhibition at Rutgers University’s Zimmerli Art Museum now through December 21, 2025, was curated by the late artist Jaune Quick-too-See Smith (January 15, 1940-January 24, 2025). Phoebe Farris interviewed artist John Hitchcock (Comanche, Kiowa, and Northern European ancestry) in relation to the exhibit.
Phoebe Farris: You have participated in two of Jaune’s recent exhibitions, “The Land Carries Our Ancestors” at the National Gallery of Art, and this exhibit at the Zimmerli Art Museum. Please explain to our readers how your lithograph “Shouting Lightening from Their Eyes (Summer Birds)” reflects Jaune's theme of “Here, Now & Always.”
John Hitchcock: My work was included in the Tribal part of the exhibition. It’s from a series of prints based on Plains Tribes’ horse masks to honor, remember, and respect the Kiowa, Comanche, and Cheyenne people and their horses. The print is in reference to the Battle of Palo Duro in 1874, where the U.S. Military leader Ranald S. Mackenzie ordered the U.S. Calvary to slaughter an estimated 2,000 horses and mules in Tule Canyon belonging to the Comanche, Kiowa, and Cheyenne people who had set up camp in Palo Duro Canyon, Texas. The Battle of Palo Duro Canyon was a military act of genocide that contributed to the forced removal of the Kiowa and Comanche people to the present-day Wichita Mountain area of Lawton, Oklahoma, which is my homeland. The Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma and the Comanche Nation are located on two sides of the Wichita Mountains. As an artist, I use visual storytelling to understand my relationships to my community, land, and culture.
PF: The audience at Zimmerli’s opening reception loved the interaction between you and fellow artist, Neal Ambrose-Smith, as you played the guitar while Neal read poetry and both of you responded to audience questions with humor to help lighten the mood regarding Jaune’s recent passing. How does your music connect to your visual art?
JH: I incorporate music and sound in my visual art installations. I have two bodies of work, “Blanket Songs” and “Bury the Hatchet,” that have recorded albums that are played in the exhibitions. I see them as a multi-sensorial approach to making art. Printmaking and music are very similar. You have multiple layers of ink with printmaking and a variety of instruments with music. In the end, you are attempting to bring them together to create a complete composition. [It’s] the same with community, whether it’s a printmaking shop, studio, or audience. It takes all of us to contribute to the conversation.
PF: Personal relationships among Indigenous artists are important for critical feedback, learning about different cultural traditions across Turtle Island, and for getting public recognition. Can you briefly describe your personal connections with Jaune and her son Neal and their impact on your creativity?
JH: Jaune is one of the most important Native artists of our time, and she has been here for all of us. When I first started teaching in 1998, Jaune reached out and asked if I could do an artist talk on her behalf for an upcoming solo exhibition, “Made in America,” in New Hampshire. I met Neal in 2007 at the SGCI International Print Convention in Kansas City, Missouri. From that time on, I participated in several printmaking projects with both of them. The emphasis on education, generosity, and giving back was always a part of these projects.They both taught me to bring other artists along with you.
PF: What do you, as a participating artist in this exhibition, want viewers to reflect on when they enter the museum, and as they leave?
JH: I want the audience to think about the multiple ways Indigenous artists are making, thinking [about], and interpreting our surroundings. Our Tribal Nations have survived the attempted colonization of our people, culture, land, rights, religion, and languages. “Indigenous Identities” honors the perseverance and power of our ancestors and Elders. The artwork is about survival, existence, and our futures. To quote Jaune, “We are still here.”
Read interviews with artists:
- “Indigenous Identities: Here, Now & Always”
- Neal Ambrose-Smith (Descendant of Confederate Salish and Kootenai Nation of Montana)
- Norman Akers (Citizen of the Osage Nation)
- Raven Manygoats (Diné)
Phoebe Mills Farris, Ph.D. (Powhatan-Pamunkey) is a Purdue University Professor emerita, photographer, and freelance art critic.
