Hudson River Museum Receives 2025 Award of Excellence from Greater Hudson Heritage Network

YONKER, NY, May 7, 2025—For the second year in a row, the Hudson River Museum is delighted to announce it has been selected as a winner of the Awards for Excellence from the Greater Hudson Heritage Network. This year’s award is for the exhibition Smoke in Our Hair: Native Memory and Unsettled Time. The awards were given to projects that exemplify creativity and professional vision resulting in a contribution to the preservation and interpretation of the historic scene, material culture, and diversity of the region.

Smoke in Our Hair, which was recently reviewed by The New York Times and highlighted as a “Critic’s Pick,” explores the nuanced layers of the past, present, and future within contemporary art by 22 leading Native American, Alaska Native, First Nations, and Métis artists. The exhibition, which is on view through August 31, was curated by independent curator Sháńdíín Brown (Diné), and drawn from the collections of Art Bridges, the Forge Project, and the Gochman Family Collection.

“We are immensely proud of Smoke in Our Hair, which is the first exhibition in the Hudson River Museum’s 106-year history to exclusively feature the art and perspectives of contemporary Native artists,” said Director and CEO Masha Turchinsky. “We are especially honored to share this recognition with curator Sháńdíín Brown, Art Bridges, the Forge Project, and the Gochman Family Collection.”

The title of the exhibition references the poem “Smoke in Our Hair” by Ofelia Zepeda (Tohono O’odham). Using smoke as a metaphor for memories, Zepeda reminds us of the fluidity of Native memory, while pointing to its enduring intensity as it reaches the conscious and unconscious mind. She writes:

Smoke, like memories, permeates our hair,
our clothing, our layers of skin.
The smoke travels deep
to the seat of memory.
We walk away from the fire;
no matter how far we walk,
we carry this scent with us.

Exhibition curator Sháńdíín Brown stated, “Poetry was a guiding force in shaping the themes of this exhibition, particularly “Smoke in Our Hair” by Ofelia Zepeda (Tohono O’odham) and “Memory Sack” by Joy Harjo (Mvskoke). Together, art and writing offer crucial ways to explore Native perspectives on existence and remembrance, inviting us to contemplate our understandings of time, memory, and identity.”

In conjunction with the exhibition, the Hudson River Museum organized public programming that has featured scholar and curator Dr. Scott Manning Stevens (Akwesasne Mohawk), Anya Montiel, PhD (Mestiza/Tohono O’odham), curator at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, writer Danielle Shandiin Emerson (Diné), and Laura Vookles, Chair of the HRM’s Curatorial Department.

The Greater Hudson Heritage Network’s mission is to serve the museum and history communities in order to advance professional standards and practices, build the capacity of organizations to meet their missions, and create a network of effective and professional stewards of regional history and culture. The awards will be presented at GHHN’s New York Statewide Preservation Conference on Wednesday, May 7.

Exhibitions are made possible by assistance provided by the County of Westchester.

Lead support for this exhibition is generously provided by Becky Gochman and Art Bridges.

This exhibition is generously sponsored by the City of Yonkers, Mayor Mike Spano.

Additional support is provided by Larry and Jill Feldman, and Conrad and Sarah Meyer. Public programs are supported in part by the Anita K. Hersh Philanthropic Foundation, Freedom View Foundation, and Ellen Kozak.

This exhibition was created in collaboration with Moonoka Begay (Ndéé and Diné), who also served as curatorial research assistant, and Zach Feuer.

Press contact:
Jeana Wunderlich
jwunderlich@hrm.org
(914) 963-4550 x240

Samantha Hoover
shoover@hrm.org
(914) 963-4550 x216