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Kay-a-gís-gis meets us with a direct and animated presence as her long black hair falls over both shoulders, while one hand rises to loosen a section near her warm brown-toned face highlighted with reddish-copper tones. Layered blue and white necklaces cross her chest, and her light-colored clothing is enriched with colorful circular and star-like designs. Most striking is her engaging toothy smile as her soft eyes look directly outward toward the painter … and, through him … toward us today. American artist George Catlin described Kay-a-gís-gis as a young woman “pulling her hair out of braid.” The Smithsonian identifies her as Ojibwa, a historical spelling for the people now commonly called Ojibwe or Anishinaabe. Catlin painted Kay-a-gís-gis at Fort Union near the junction of the Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers. Fort Union was an American Fur Company trading post where Native nations, traders, and travelers came into sustained contact. The portrait belongs to the enormous body of paintings Catlin called his “Indian Gallery,” with hundreds of portraits, landscapes, and scenes of Native life. Catlin believed he was preserving the appearances and cultures of Native peoples at a moment of rapid change, but he worked within the expansionist world of 19th-century America that was violently reshaping Indigenous life. His paintings were made for non-Native audiences so the names, descriptions, and categories often reflect what Catlin recorded rather than how people might have described themselves. The Smithsonian notes that this was among Catlin’s early attempts to capture facial expression. Her smile may be evidence of her personality, but it may also just be a momentary exchange Catlin preserved. Either way, Kay-a-gís-gis looking back, adjusting her long dark hair, and occupying the center of the canvas is undeniably an unforgettable indigenous woman whose presence still reaches across nearly two centuries.
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