Now open at the New Mexico Museum of Art is Rooted Strong: Visions of America from New Mexico,a new exhibition the delves into the multicultural history of New Mexico’s diverse lands and peoples.
Raymond Jonson (1891-1982), Earth Rhythms #2, 1923, oil on canvas, 27½ x 40 5⁄8 in. Collection of the New Mexico Museum of Art. Museum purchase, 2007 (2007.5). Photo by Blair Clark.The exhibition, which opened April 3, features a wide variety of materials, from paintings and bronzes to photography, cut paper, pottery and more. The exhibition weaves together complex histories that involve Native Americans, people from Spain and Mexico, and white European settlers. Artists represented in the exhibition include Fritz Scholder, Emmi Whitehorse, Miguel Gandert, Janet Lippencott, Luis Jiménez Raymond Jonson, Arlo Namingha and others, in addition to works by potter Diego Romero and his wife, photographer Cara Romero. “The exhibition reflects both intimate moments of daily life and larger celebrations, histories, and landscapes that define the region,” the museum notes.
Diego Romero (Cochiti Pueblo), Siege of Santa Fe, 2009, terracotta, slips, 7¼ x 157⁄8 in. Collection of the New Mexico Museum of Art. Museum purchase with funds from the Boeckman Acquisition Fund and the Clinton King Purchase Award, 2010 (2010.21). © Diego Romero. Photo by Blair Clark.
Delmas Howe, Trailer Home, 1992, color lithograph, 293⁄8 x 41¾ in. Collection of the New Mexico Museum of Art. Gift from L. D. Burke III, 1995 (1995.10.1). © Delmas Howe. Photo by Addison Doty.
Rooted Strong is organized around themes of community, land, domestic life and celebration. These themes are especially strong in the 1940s photography of John Collier Jr., who shot images of people in a dancehall and clothing drying on a line under New Mexico skies. A photo by Miguel A. Gandert shows children lounging by a pool, while an image by Cara Romero features young Indigenous subjects standing next to a lowrider car. The photos complement the paintings and sculpture, which show New Mexico as a playground for beauty and culture.
John Collier Jr., Peñasco, New Mexico, 1943 (printed 1990), gelatin silver print 103⁄8 x 133⁄8 in. Collection of the New Mexico Museum of Art. New Mexico Farm Security Administration Collection, Museum purchase with funds from the Pinewood Foundation with additional support from Barbara Erdman, 1990 (1990.70.268b). Photo by Kevin Beltran.
“Artists have long turned to New Mexico to explore questions of identity, community and landscape,” says curator Alexandra Terry. “Rooted Strong highlights the many ways artists have interpreted the state’s histories and everyday life, revealing how art helps shape our understanding of place.”
The exhibition continues through September 7. —
Rooted Strong: Visions of America from New Mexico
Through September 7, 2026
New Mexico Museum of Art
107 W. Palace Avenue, Santa Fe, NM87501
(505) 476-5063, www.nmartmuseum.org
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