Uŋči Said So | Danielle SeeWalker

The exhibition title uses the Lakota word for grandmother, uŋči, to highlight the significance of our grandmothers in our life ways, our values, and signifies the generational knowledge passed down. This exhibit shows work that is bright, sometimes humorous/sometimes serious, with a sprinkling of tender homage to the elders who shaped the way we see the world. These works are rooted in stories told around bowls of soup and frybread, amongst big auntie laughter, and in humble cultural gestures that become our collective identity.

Artist Danielle SeeWalker’s practice is anchored in everyday, contemporary Native life while also bringing forward histories that are too often left untold. SeeWalker’s signature portraiture paintings hold a deliberate tension: expressionist surfaces and au courant color palettes that pull the viewer in, while a hint of realism — most notably in the portraits’ distinct, knowing eyes — sets the tone, emotion, and narrative. Those eyes are the fulcrum: intimate, directive, and sometimes wry, they invite you into a story that is both personal and communal. Pops of fabricated neon with rez slang and cultural gestures, inject a playful, contemporary glimpse into Native humor and identity.

“As a colorist, I enjoy playing with color palettes to seduce and disarm, then let the narrative reveal itself,” says SeeWalker. “I like to pair colors that don’t always exist next to one another, but when paired, something magical happens.”

The work in Uŋči Said So holds both reverence and resistance — honoring SeeWalker’s Native American community by carrying forward experiences, teachings and a Native visual narrative. This body of work honors the matriarchs who have held our nations together through colonization, erasure, and every attempt to silence us. Uŋči Said So is not a suggestion. It is instruction. It is memory passed down in kitchens, at ceremonies, in the quiet ways Native women have always governed without permission. Uŋči Said So seeks to uplift the quiet power of our grandmas: women who didn’t need titles to lead, who didn’t need permission to resist, who understood that sovereignty begins at home. Her stories, her teachings, her discipline… It's what shapes us.

This exhibition is a reminder: we are still here because Uŋči said so.

Artist Statement:
My work over the past decade has used the revealing aspects of American Indian history, as told from the perspective of a Native American person, to demonstrate the profound impact it has had on our contemporary cultures today. In the current climate, where many believe history has no relevance, or believe Native Americans are relics of the past, I find myself continually returning to those aspects that are often hidden or misrepresented in the “official” recordings for posterity. In my multidisciplinary and diverse approaches to making art through installations, studio work, public street art, murals and curatorial work, I want the context of the work to leave the viewer with a thirst for wanting to know more.

My current body of work is very diverse. I have recently completed several murals for various mural festivals, private commissions and public art projects. As the colder months approach, I shift my time to studio work where I have been working on a series of portraits titled “The Braided Women” which tells stories of my people and culture from a Lakota woman’s perspective. Recently, I concluded a few exhibitions on the East Coast in Boston, Philadelphia and New York City and am shifting gears to install a couple murals in Palestine and Kenya this year along with preparing for another solo exhibition in Las Vegas.

About the Artist: 
Danielle SeeWalker is a Húŋkpapȟa Lakȟóta citizen of the Standing Rock Sioux Nation in North Dakota. She is a mother, artist, muralist, writer, curator, activist and businesswoman and is currently based in Denver, Colorado. Her visual artwork often incorporates the use of mixed media and experimentation while incorporating traditional Native American materials, scenes, and messaging. Storytelling is an integral part of her artwork and pays homage to her identity as a Lakȟóta wíŋyaŋ as well as her passion to redirect the narrative to an accurate and insightful representation of contemporary Native America while still acknowledging historical events.

Alongside her work as a visual artist, Danielle is a freelance writer and published her first book in 2020, titled “Still Here: A Past to Present Insight of Native American People & Culture.” She is also very dedicated to staying connected and involved to the Native American community including serving 5 years on the Denver American Indian Commission with two of those years serving as Co-Chair. Through her work on the Commission, she has been able to be involved in policy work that has directly affected her Native American community – including legislation to abolish derogatory Native American mascots in schools (2021) and to create an Office and Liaison for Missing & Murdered Indigenous Relatives (MMIR) investigations (2022 and 2023). Danielle considers herself an “artivist” as she is able to voice many important topics through her artwork but also be boots on the ground to make change happen.

Danielle has also been working on a long-term personal project since 2013 with her long-time friend called The Red Road Project. The focus of the work is to document, through words, photographs, and video, what it means to be Native American in the 21st century by capturing inspiring and positive stories of people and communities within Indian Country. She recently evolved that project into a non-profit organization with a division to provide cultural arts opportunities to Native American people residing in urban areas.

In 2022, Danielle was the recipient of the Mayor’s Excellence in Arts & Culture Innovation Award and in 2024 received an Emmy Award for her work on a documentary piece with Rocky Mountain PBS called “A New Chapter”.  In 2025, Danielle received the NDN Collective’s “Radical Imagination Grant” to support a collaborative project with Palestinian artists and is the 2026 Greene Fellowship recipient.
Website:  www.seewalker.com
Instagram: @seewalker_ART

Gallery Hours:
Tuesday-Friday: 10 am-5 pm
Saturday: 12pm – 3 pm
Sunday-Monday: Closed

Artwork Credit: "Indians Can Be Gingers We Call Them Gindians," Danielle SeeWalker.