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INDIG ENOUS
Homage to Native Americans, while exploring culture, genocide, the artist’s Muscogee Creek heritage and hope for the future.
INDIG ENOUS gives homage to Native Americans, exploring culture, genocide and hope for the future. Works in this exhibit feature: The Eagles Fly; Wings of the Sun Dancer; Ancestral Mound; Hair of Power and Assimilation; Circle and Cycle of Life; Sisals of Sanctity. . In the center of the gallery was placed a large body of sand, shaped like a flat top pyramid also known as platform20 mounds. The mounds are associated with cosmology and also used as ancient burial grounds of and practiced by Southeastern, Woodland tribes. At the top of gallery mound was a spiral, drawn after “spiral” mounds located in the Eastern woodlands, the ancient burial grounds of our ancestors. The black braid hung above the mound represented both the celebration of hair in Native culture, and the eradication of hair by colonial powers in an attempt to dismantle Indigenous culture and tradition.The large twig wings on the North wall symbolized the “Sun Dancer.” In the center of the wall, I placed an eagle feather gifted to me by my tribe. The eagle is considered the highest-flying bird and closest to the creator. In front of the wings and eagle feather, sisal hung, to prevent viewers from entering the sanctified space. Central to the installation in my space was a work entitled The Circle and Cycle of Life, made of a found bicycle wheel and laced with long draping sisal in the position of a spirit dancer, a sundial, a spiritual metaphor symbolic of sacred narratives. The wheel signifies journey, evolution, and transformation, the sisal symbolic of the roots and traditions of Native American basket weaving. It is now even more symbolic, as it has journeyed beyond borders onto another continent, carrying its theme of humanity and culture. The sculpture, continuing my thematic and theoretical exploration, examines the cycle of colonialism and its unending circle of exploitation. The wheel represents the machinations of American corporations and the United States government.