Emmi Whitehorse (b. 1957, Crownpoint, New Mexico) is a Diné Indigenous artist, primarily working in abstracted large-scale poetic landscapes of the US Southwest. Whitehouse highlights the native ecologies using a traditional Diné/Navajo concept known as Hózhó, which emphasizes the interconnectedness of land and people to achieve harmony and beauty. Her works on paper and canvas embody the spiritual temporalities of the Diné that read the landscape as a symphony through time. 

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"My work is about, and has always been about, land – about being aware of our surroundings and appreciating the beauty of nature. I am concerned that we are no longer aware of those things. I hope that the calm and beauty in my work serves as a reminder of what is underfoot, of the exchange we make with nature. Light, space, and color are the axis around which my work evolves. The act of making art must stay true to a harmonious balance of beauty, nature, humanity, and the whole universe. This is in accordance with Navajo philosophy."

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As a student in the late 70s, Whitehorse joined the groundbreaking “Grey Canyon Group”, which was comprised of other contemporary Native American artists, such as Jaune Quick-To-See Smith (b. 1940, founder of the group), Conrad House (b. 1956), and Felice Lucero-Giaccardo (b. 1946). Together, the group defied expectations placed on Indigenous-made art by utilizing modernist abstraction to express Indigenous themes or worldviews. Whitehorse’s sensorial landscape mark-making techniques, presented through mystifying compositions, illuminate alternative strategies for preserving Indigeneity and resisting colonial violence and extraction.

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Whitehorse received a BA with a Major in Painting from the University of New Mexico in 1980, and an MA with a Major in Printmaking and a Minor in Art History in 1982, also from her alma mater. Her work is held in the collections of the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, New York; Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas; Denver Art Museum, Colorado; Eiteljorg Museum, Indianapolis, Indiana; Heard Museum, Phoenix, Arizona; Montclair Art Museum, New Jersey; Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe, New Mexico; Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts; Tucson Museum of Art, Arizona; Westfalisches Museum, Munster, Germany; The Wheelwright Museum, Santa Fe, New Mexico; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York, among many others.