Emmi Whitehorse

Born 1957 in Crownpoint, New Mexico, Emmi Whitehorse is an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation. Whitehorse received a BA with a Major in Painting from the University of New Mexico in 1980, and an MA with a Major in Printmaking and a Minor in Art History in 1982, also from her alma mater.

“My paintings tell the story of knowing land over time—of being completely, microcosmically within a place,” says Whitehorse of her enigmatic compositions. For over 40 years, the unique landscape of the Southwest has been a prevailing source of inspiration for the artist. Her works on paper and canvas often situate abstract, gestural marks amidst vaporous fields of color. The intimate and intuitive nature of the artist’s organic forms are tethered to complex and constantly changing geographies and environments. Deliberately meditative and slow, these paintings register fleeting sensory perceptions and subtle shifts in light, space, and color—the central axes around which the artist’s work has evolved. Throughout her career, Whitehorse’s longstanding commitment to beauty and peace has its origins in the Navajo philosophy Hózhó, which seeks to achieve a harmonious balance of life, mind, and body with nature.

Whitehorse’s work has been the subject of dozens of museum and gallery presentations since 1979.

SOURCE - https://www.garthgreenan.com/artists/emmi-whitehorse/undefined?view=slider#3 (Oct 2025)