Sky Hopinka

Sky Hopinka's exhibition *Kicking the Clouds* at the National Gallery of Art presents a multimedia exploration of family, language, place, and contemporary Indigenous experience through photographs, poems, and film. The exhibition centers on the 15-minute film of the same title, which draws on a rare audio recording of the artist's grandmother, and is accompanied by hand-etched photographic prints and a calligram that further layer visual, written, and spoken language. Together these works offer a nuanced understanding of how Hopinka connects personal memories with shared Native histories.

When: April 11 through December 6, 2026.

Where: West Building, Ground Floor, Gallery G22 at the National Gallery of Art, 6th and Constitution Ave NW, Washington, DC.

Admission: Free; passes are not required.

Works: The exhibition features the single-channel color video with sound "Kicking the Clouds" (2021, 15:06 minutes) and several inkjet prints with hand-etched text: "Dickson Mounds" (2022), "Free me from this body, my voice can carry only so far. Free me from this body, as I lay on the grass it feels heavy and I can't move. Free me from this body, the color burns brown with dark limbs so tired and missing the weightless breadth of above." (2020), "Cahokia" (2022), and "Protected" (2022). A calligram—words arranged to form a symbolic image—is also on view.

Curated by: Andrea Nelson, associate curator of photographs, National Gallery of Art.

Organized by: The National Gallery of Art, Washington.

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