In just four years, the Gochman Family Collection has assembled one of the most significant holdings of works by contemporary Indigenous artists and creatives. Conceived as a private lending collection rather than a self-congratulatory venture, the collection is wholly centered on the artists and their communities. Its founders have intentionally stepped back to allow the collection’s mission to speak for itself.
Today, the collection is partially on view in two venues: a Central Park-adjacent apartment in Uptown Manhattan and a Palm Beach residence—both of which welcome visitors. In those spaces, the collection’s curators create compelling dialogues between a diverse selection of artists—many of whom have earned widespread institutional recognition in recent years. The roster spans from contemporary figures such as Nicholas Galanin and Cannupa Hanska Luger to pioneering voices like Beau Dick and the late Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, who was celebrated with a major survey at the Whitney Museum just last year, underscoring her lasting impact.
Expanding beyond its original focus on North American Indigenous communities, the collection now embraces visionaries from across the Americas. Among them is Colombian artist Aycoboo, whose shamanic works—steeped in the knowledge of the Amazonian landscape and the worldview of the Nonuya people—stood out at the last Venice Biennale.
After visiting both locations, Observer spoke with the collection’s custodian Becky Gochman and director Zach Feuer ahead of the opening of “Smoke in Our Hair: Native Memory and Unsettled” at the Hudson River Museum (February 14–August 31, 2025). The exhibition explores the layered histories of the past, present and future in contemporary art by Native American, Alaska Native, First Nations and Métis artists, with works drawn primarily from the Gochman Collection.
“I have been wanting to do something as a give-back in the art scene for a while,” Gochman says, sharing how her 22-year-old daughter’s bold decision to write an unapologetic article for a prestigious equestrian magazine—a piece condemning the murder of George Floyd—inspired her. “It gave me the courage to go ahead and go forward with things that I wanted to do that had always been in the back of my head.”
A few months later, Gochman purchased a building that once belonged to Ai Weiwei—a striking brutalist structure and the only space in the U.S. designed by the renowned artist. “Shortly afterward, I was introduced to Zach Feuer, and it was clear that we were very like-minded. With his help, we conceived and launched an Indigenous program for social justice. That’s how Forge Project was born.”
The Gochman Family Collection’s origins, in fact, trace back to Forge Project, now a Native-led initiative situated on the unceded homelands of the Moh-He-Con-Nuck in Upstate New York. Under the leadership of Candice Hopkins, who serves as executive director and chief curator, Forge Project focuses on promoting Indigenous art, decolonializing education and fostering leadership in cultural advocacy, food security and land justice. “We took a step back in its direction and leadership early on, as we knew since its founding that it had to be Indigenous-led and run.”
So while the collection grew out of Forge Project, its growth has continued independently. “We started collecting right away because we felt that collecting living Native artists was important, at all levels, but in particular to create a lending collection—bringing money to these artists and their communities while increasing their visibility through different institutions,” explains Gochman. Currently, Forge Project holds the first part of the collection, which numbers around 100 works, while the Gochman Family Collection, now distinct, has expanded to approximately 500 pieces. “Forge is always in our heart, and we want to continue to support it. At the same time, with this collection, we can continue to build fair relationships with the artists and support them in their careers, which is one of our main goals.”
Central to building meaningful engagement with communities is the diverse team behind the Gochman Family Collection, which features many Indigenous voices. Among them are artist Rachel Martin (Tlingit/Tsaagweidei, Killer Whale Clan, of the Yellow Cedar House (Xaai Hit’)), as well as Indigenous curatorial consultants such as Shándíín Brown (Diné), Ginger Dunnill, Candice Hopkins (Carcross/Tagish First Nation) and Larissa Nez (Diné), with Moonoka Begay (Ndéé + Diné) as curatorial associate.
While the collection has begun hosting private tours, most events and visits so far have been by the artists, their families and people from their communities. “But we have seen a growing demand from museum groups and curators,” says Gochman, pointing to the strategic location of the Uptown space—right on Museum Mile, between the Guggenheim and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Yet what resonates most is the warm, domestic atmosphere the collection retains, as it becomes part of a shared story of family collecting and community engagement. Displayed within the apartment’s rooms, the artworks live alongside the rhythms of daily life. “I feel the art really speaks in that apartment. It has been exciting for our girls to grow up in their late teenagerhood between these artworks,” says Gochman, whose two daughters, Sophie and Mimi, are now in their mid-twenties.
A symbolic and heartfelt site-specific work by Rachel Cole depicts the entire family as the city’s native birds—pigeons, elaborately adorned. “These artworks have deeply affected our family and our friends,” says Gochman. “I can’t even explain all that we have learned, felt, recognized and acknowledged through this collecting journey.”
The choice to house the collection in a domestic environment reflects a commitment to its lending mission while recognizing that many institutions already serve these communities. Feuer, who operated his eponymous gallery from 2000 to 2016 and co-founded the New Art Dealers Alliance, elaborates: “When you become an institution, you risk becoming more focused on the institutional aspects instead of the artists. With this idea of a dynamic lending collection, we get to consistently ask what the artist wants, how they are going to benefit, and what is best for the work in terms of projects and venues in which it can gain more visibility and encounter more audiences.”
The collection also serves as a long-term platform of support for the artists, offering sustained career development through assistance with travel, exhibitions, artist-in-residence opportunities, publishing support and introductions to professional networks. “I think 90 percent of the artists have visited the Upper East Side location,” says Martin. “This relationship with the artists allows us to find out more about the stories and motivations behind the work, to be able to translate and convey those to the visitors of the collection.”
This direct relationship, along with the creation of support systems and community around the collection, helped artists feel more comfortable being a part of what the Gochman Family Collection was doing. “At the beginning, artists openly questioned why we were doing this. And we questioned ourselves and what we were doing,” says Gochman. “It has been very important since the beginning to build these relationships. We even have artists staying here or in the Palm Beach house. It’s really meaningful.”
Today, the Gochman Family Collection averages 100 to 120 loans per year, but they want to eventually increase those numbers by widening their collaborator base to include major venues like the Venice Biennale and MoMA and regional museums outside of major cities. “We are trying to provide the broadest access possible to the collection, and the loan program allows us to do that by collaborating with institutions and partners all over the world,” explains Feuer. “Becky might have a piece that she loves hanging over her bed, but then we might send it to a tiny museum in Nebraska. She might be missing this piece, but it’ll be for the best, as someone else will be able to see it. It’s a real custodianship instead of the holding and owning mentality.”
To further promote awareness, appreciation and study of the richness of Indigenous culture, Gochman, Feuer and the Forge team partnered with Bard College to lead the transformation of the American Studies department into the “American and Indigenous Studies Department.” The initiative includes an ambitious hiring, programming and scholarship plan, supported by a $25 million donation from the Gochman family, matched by an additional $25 million from George Soros. The goal is to build a network of public programming focused on arts, education and advocacy in Native American and Indigenous studies.
This mission to facilitate the circulation, presentation and promotion of Indigenous practices and narratives, as evidenced by many recent biennials, aligns with a growing shift in the contemporary art world, which is finally paying overdue attention to these voices. At a time when cracks in the Western capitalist model have become apparent and many are seeking alternatives, there is a rising interest in systems of knowledge and spiritualities that foster a more harmonious coexistence between beings and with the planet—values conveyed in many of the Gochman Family Collection’s works.
<