Historic photograph of Nampeyo seated on the floor, shaping a large pot, with storage jars behind her

The Film

Nampeyo, An American Modernist

Project Status: In Production
Scheduled Broadcast: Late 2027
Funding: Seeking Critical Finishing Funds

A portrait of the modernist era with America’s indigenous culture at its center

Through the biography of one extraordinary woman, Nampeyo, an American Modernist sketches a provocative portrait of the modernist era with America’s indigenous culture at its center.

Nampeyo’s innovative art career is the culmination of a sophisticated lineage of Indigenous abstractions stretching back over a thousand years. The Smithsonian-led excavation of 14th-century ancestral Hopi ceramics near her home in 1895 inspired her to reinvent her style many times over.

Grounded in this tradition, her work influenced modernism. Her work was avidly studied by emerging European artists in over 70 museum collections in America and Europe. For the young modernists, seeking release from the restrictions of realism, Nampeyo’s expressive abstract design was revelatory.

Our film reveals the inspiration drawn from Native America that influenced Picasso, Kandinsky, O’Keeffe and beyond, establishing the American Southwest as a cradle of Modernism and restoring Nampeyo’s reputation as a significant artist of the 20th century. Emphasising the importance of intergenerational family bonds, the film focuses on the artwork and oral history of Nampeyo family artists who have kept her legacy alive for six generations.

Trailer