Jaune Quick-to-See Smith’s Wilding at Edinburgh’s Fruitmarket (review) – All Things of the Earth are Connected

Jaune Quick-to-See Smith was a Native American visual artist whose final collection of work fills the gallery space in Edinburgh’s own Fruitmarket. Created before her passing in January this year, Wilding brings together a number of works in Smith’s distinctively organic and confronting style. 

Canvases in the lower gallery are splashed with earthy tones and pictographs that conjure images of Montana, Smith’s place of birth. Smith was born into the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Nation, a tribe which originally spanned around 22 million acres of land now referred to as parts of Montana, Idaho, British Columbia, and Wyoming. The retrospective is the first posthumous exhibition of her work in a public gallery, and the first time that her work has ever been displayed in Scotland. 

The words ‘All things of the Earth are connected’ trail down a piece referring to an 1854 speech given by Indigenous leader, Chief Seattle. The foreboding red cross at the bottom of the canvas, which gives the piece its name, brings about feelings of retribution, hope, and rebirth, set upon a stormy backdrop as if the words were emblazoned across an apocalyptic sky. Though the quote can speak to a collective consciousness and commonality between peoples, its presentation could equally refer to a karmic justice set upon those for the way they have treated others. 

The words echo through the entire exhibition. All my Relations hangs over the stairwell connecting the upper and lower galleries. In it are animals of all types and unusual scales, coexisting as if on Noah’s Ark. We see a rabbit perched on the back of a moose, a bear climbing the gargantuan shell of a tortoise, a crow cawing on the back of a wolf. Strings from the red ochre sculpture trail down into the staircase, allowing visitors a peculiar closeness to the piece. When viewed from the gallery, we are at eye-level with the canoe as it swims through the sky – as all the animals inside are connected to each other, so are we connected with them. 

Coyote Stories Numbers 1 and 2 are collaged and framed pieces paired together. When viewed from left to right, the piece might be an origin story of the world. Beginning with simple drawings of fish and people, we soon see boats and explosions of colour which bottleneck into black and white patterns and masked figures. Its form certainly evokes a feeling of before-and-after with each frame a scene in a story of the earth. 

Quick-to-See Smith’s own voice echoes through the gallery from the accompanying film, which features an interview with her son Neal Ambrose-Smith. Though the exhibition unexpectedly and tragically opened without its artist, her voice continues on through her vivid and powerful paintings which will continue to probe, overwrite, and uncover histories for years to come.

Wilding is on until 2nd February 2026 at Fruitmarket, 45 Market Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1DF

Main image: Jaune Quick-to-See Smith. Indian Lands: Indian, Indio, Indigenous II, 1992. Mixed media on canvas. Courtesy of the artist and Garth Greenan Gallery, New York