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NATCHEZ — The work of an artist native to Natchez is on display at the Mississippi Museum of Art through Sept. 22.

Noah Saterstrom, who was raised in Natchez, is exhibiting his work, “What Became of Dr. Smith,” at the museum in Jackson.

The exhibition, which is a large-scale panoramic narrative painting, follows the life of Saterstrom’s great-grandfather. His great-grandfather was a traveling optometrist whose struggle with and treatment for mental illness led to his erasure from family history.

Beginning in 2017, Saterstrom spent years searching in state, local and private archives for information about Dr. D.L. Smith. He discovered his great-grandfather spent his final four decades of life at the Mississippi State Insane Hospital in Jackson and later in Whitfield.

“What Became of Dr Smith” explores Saterstrom’s Mississippi ancestry and suppressed Southern histories.

Saterstrom’s painting is composed of 183 canvases spanning 122 feet, as well as historic artifacts from Dr. Smith’s life, including letters, newspaper clippings and photographs. It also includes and area dedicated to The Asylum Hill project, a research consortium committed to uncovering the history of the Old Asylum and memorializing the approximately 7,000 people whose remains were recently discovered there.

Saterstrom is based in Nashville. He earned a bachelor of fine arts degree from the University of Mississippi and a master’s of fine arts degree from Glasgow School of Arts in Scotland.

For more information, visit msmuseumart.org.