A reimagining of Apsáalooke history through a bold installation by contemporary artist Wendy Red Star
The celebrated artist Wendy Red Star (Apsáalooke, b. 1981) creates work that explores the lives and legacies of her ancestors alongside ideas informed by her own experience growing up on the Apsáalooke (Crow) Reservation. Red Star’s work across media—including sculpture, photography, painting, fashion design, bead work, and fiber art—is widely admired for its blend of research, playfulness, and insight. Wendy Red Star: Whispering Spirit documents and examines the artist’s site-specific, immersive installation at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery. Centering on the life and enduring visual legacy of Chief Plenty Coos (ca. 1848–1932), the last principal chief of the Apsáalooke, Whispering Spirit is also about the ways history continues to speak to us. Delving into the afterlife of archival materials, Red Star’s work demonstrates their potential to hold multiple, even conflicting, meanings that change across time and space.
The book brings together:
• Never-before-seen artworks
• More than 100 images, including dozens of installation views
• A new interview with Wendy Red Star
• Fresh scholarship on the artist and the histories she illuminates