Indigenous Knowledge Systems: Of Maps, Abstraction, and Language

Language of The Land

Steven J. Yazzie is a multidisciplinary artist working across painting, installation, video/film, photography, and community collaboration. Yazzie is a member of the Navajo Nation and a veteran of the Gulf War, serving honorably with the United States Marine Corps from 1988-1992. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Intermedia at Arizona State University and was named Outstanding Graduate by the Herberger Institute for Design and Art in 2014. Yazzie was a 2019-2020 Community Scholar for the Interdisciplinary Research Institute for the Study of (in)Equality at University of Denver, Colorado. Additionally, Yazzie was a founding member of Postcommodity, an indigenous arts collective, and was the co-founder of the Museum of Walking.

Notable exhibitions include: the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; National Museum of the American Indian, New York, NY; Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, Denver Art Museum, Colorado; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada; Phoenix Art Museum, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Tucson Museum of Art in Arizona. Yazzie has been selected for the 2025 Sharjah Biennial 16, UAE.

Yazzie has participated in residencies at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Maine; Plug-In Institute of Contemporary Art, Winnipeg, Canada; Museum of Contemporary Native Art, Social Engagement Residency, Santa Fe, NM; Native Artist in Residence, Denver Art Museum, Colorado; and Center For the Future, Slavonice, Czech Republic. Yazzie is an Eiteljorg 2022 Contemporary Art Fellow, Indianapolis, IN and a 2024 UCross Fellow, Wyoming. He lives and works in Denver, Colorado.