Sky Hopinka, Dickson Mounds, 2022, inkjet print with hand-etched text, Pepita Milmore Memorial Fund, Courtesy of the artist and Tanya Leighton, Berlin and Los Angeles, Photography: Gunter Lepkoski, 2023.130.3

Current Exhibition

Sky Hopinka

Kicking the Clouds

Details

  • Dates

    -

  • Locations

    West Building

    West Building Ground Floor, Gallery G22

  • Ticketing Information

    Admission is always free and passes are not required

Through photographs, poems, and film, Sky Hopinka connects family, language, place, and lived Indigenous experience. 

Explore the powerful ties between language and landscape in works by Sky Hopinka (Ho-Chunk Nation/Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians). A photographer, filmmaker, and poet, Hopinka creates multimedia art to reflect on personal memories and shared Native histories.

The exhibition takes its title from Kicking the Clouds (2021), a 15-minute film inspired by a rare audio recording of the artist’s grandmother. Photographs etched with Hopinka’s own poems are also featured alongside a calligram, words arranged to form a symbolic image. Together, these works show how Hopinka layers language—visual, written, and spoken—to present a nuanced understanding of place and the contemporary Indigenous experience. 

Organization
Organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington

Curated by Andrea Nelson, associate curator of photographs 

 

Sponsor 
The exhibition is made possible through support from Daniel W. Hamilton.

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The image features a series of horizontal lines and a rectangle filled with star shapes at the top left corner. The flag consists of green and black stripes with a red rectangle in the upper left containing a pattern of blue stars. Below, a more subdued version mirrors the form with tones of gray and white. The composition is set against a textured gray background. On the right is a logo that reads America's 250th in shades of white, red, and blue against a black circle background.

Exhibition:  American Icon

This painting shows a canyon landscape viewed from a high vantage point, with ridges and formations extending into the distance. The horizon is positioned high in the painting, with the light-blue sky featuring soft white clouds. The canyon displays vibrant shades of red, pink, and green, contrasting with shadowed areas in darker shades of blue and gray. In the bottom right corner of the painting, there are some geometric white and blue patterns overlayed on top of the canyon.

Exhibition:  Homelands