Emmi Whitehorse

Emmi Whitehorse, born in 1957 in Crownpoint, New Mexico, is a distinguished contemporary artist of Navajo heritage renowned for her large-scale abstract works. Working primarily with oil, chalk, and graphite on paper often mounted to canvas, Whitehorse creates intricate visual fields she refers to as "personal geographies" or "biological landscapes." Her delicate, layered compositions evoke the natural world, cosmological systems, and personal memory, drawing deeply from her Navajo upbringing and the Southwestern environment while maintaining a distinctly abstract language. Characterized by floating forms, subtle textures, and calligraphic mark-making, her art offers a space for quiet contemplation and connection to place. While not formally aligned with a specific art movement, Whitehorse is a significant figure in contemporary Native American art. Her work has been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions nationally, including participation in the 2024 Venice Biannale. Prominent institutions holding her work include the National Gallery of Art, National Museum of the American Indian, Denver Art Museum, Heard Museum, Brooklyn Museum, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.