For over 40 years, the wild landscape of the Southwest has been a rich source of inspiration for Emmi Whitehorse. Yet her approach to nature and its translation onto canvas is profoundly different from traditional landscape painting: her compositions are more abstract and symbolic, filled with an accumulation of signs and symbols that float within vaporous fields of color, occasionally guided by bold gestural marks. As a member of the Navajo Nation, Whitehorse has viewed nature from a perspective that rejects the hierarchy of a human-centered worldview, embracing instead the interconnectedness of all beings in a system of exchange and interdependence that sustains life.
On the occasion of her show at Garth Greenan Gallery in New York, “Abloom,” which coincides with her inclusion in the 2024 Venice Biennale and follows a strong showing in this year’s Armory Show, Observer spoke with the artist about how her distinct approach to landscape painting reflects a paradigm shift—one that fosters a more symbiotic relationship with the natural world.
Whitehorse’s paintings seem to emerge from a gaze already immersed in nature—one that is symbiotic, embracing the mystery of its forces while connecting on both a micro and macro level. This outlook reflects a childhood deeply rooted in a close relationship with the natural world. “We spent a lot of time outside as a child,” Whitehorse told Observer. “We entertained ourselves by looking at nature and collecting plants. I used to tell people that I always felt like we lived on the moon because we were very isolated from the rest of the world.” Her reference to the moon suggests a perception of the world in a different dimension, where the micro and macro collide and time and space become fluid, following a quantum-like flow of energy exchange. “My paintings tell the story of knowing land over time—of being completely, microcosmically within a place,” she said of her enigmatic compositions.
This perspective is why Whitehorse’s landscapes often resemble indistinct galaxies, with particles and forms gravitating fluidly in a space that embraces transformation and interconnectedness. Some works evoke a marine world, like a primordial ocean where plants, algae and microorganisms coexist symbiotically, each element contributing to an ongoing evolution for mutual survival. Whitehorse describes her picture planes as if they were still immersed in an amniotic liquid—observing and translating signs that move from the inside out, between the individual and the collective body, in continuous motion and shifting perspectives. “Like a bird’s eye view from the top, zooming in and out, looking down on things from an aerial, like you would do while flying over a place and taking an aerial photo. Things will be flattened out, and a whole mix of different elements suddenly appear at the same level, interconnected,” she explained. Drawing from the Navajo philosophy of “Hózhó,” Whitehorse’s work reflects an effort to translate the harmonious balance of life, mind and body in relationship with nature.
Her deep, intuitive connection with the landscape allows her to “abstract” it—if viewed through the lens of Western art—or rather, to capture the complex and intertwined systems of energetic and spiritual fields that different entities emit. In this way, Whitehorse’s “abstract landscapes” align closely with the deeply spiritual abstraction explored by artists like Paul Klee, who sought to access a “primordial” and “pure” gaze that could contemplate and express nature beyond conventional symbolic and linguistic codes. Both Klee and Whitehorse achieve abstraction through an intuitive distillation of the natural world into elemental shapes and sensations, emphasizing its complexity and the emotional responses it evokes.
Rather than depicting stable entities, Whitehorse focuses on capturing the subtle shifts of light, space and color, translating fleeting physical sensations and spiritual vibrations into multisensory experiences. “They’re the translation of this more intimate relationship with nature, which simultaneously makes time both visual and tactile, including the smells and the sounds,” she explained. Within her delicate hues of warm yellows, oranges and reds, or submerged in deep blue tones, Whitehorse incorporates mysterious hieroglyphic signs and plant-like forms that float beside elemental shapes like spirals, curves and gestural marks, suggesting a vaporous vortex of energy and microbiotic life. According to the artist, “There are things that float around in the air that we don’t see, but you can see it microscopically, so I add them in there to make you aware that these things are floating around you.” Ultimately, Whitehorse’s canvases resemble a kind of synesthesia, capturing nature on multiple levels of sensation, suggestion and vibration. Their delicate lyricism infuses them with a musicality, as her brushstrokes translate these particles into pigment through movements of air and water, mirroring the forces at play in the universe.
Replicating the alchemical genesis of the universe in her artistic process, Whitehorse presents complex, ever-changing geographies and environments: even when fixed on canvas, the continuous flow of particles and energies is never truly frozen. Instead, they seem to carry on their perpetual movement of change and evolution, echoing the rhythms that animate the cosmos. In this way, Whitehorse’s compositions serve as a poetic reminder of the natural forces that envelop us, sustaining the eternal cycle of life beyond human time and perception. “I like people to see or be reminded that we live in this fantastic place, which we should celebrate and respect,” she said. “It is mind-blowing to me how we are destroying it with wars, bombing, extraction.” Ultimately, her art is a celebration of creation and natural life in defiance of destruction and human greed.
“Emmi Whitehorse: Abloom” is on view at Garth Greenan, New York, through October 19.
–Elisa Carollo