nibiiwakamigkwe
I, and all my matrilineal ancestors before me, sit in the kʌniyewʌna//bear clan of the Onʌyoteˀa·ká//Oneida Nation, part of the Haudenosaunee//Iroquois Confederacy. Our role has always been that of medicine carriers and protectors of the people. Traditional Haudenosaunee tattooing practices carry medicine both physically and spiritually, and our connections to place, community, and our own identities are held within these lines.
In creating yutolishʌtákhwaˀ//a resting place, it was important that the piece exist on both sides of pre- and post-contact. Haudenosaunee chest tattoos depict the land the wearer comes from. After the suicide of several of my cousins, this design does not currently have a young male family member to carry it. But, this piece can still be worn as a yoke over the chest; emblematic of contemporary Oneida regalia, but only composed from pre-contact materials. It is a reminder to keep our hearts wrapped in leather for protection, and remember where we come from.
As Native access to resources was restricted, canvas substituted for hide and bark homebuilding materials. Our senses of place and self are changed by these worlds of substitution and resilience. Emulating Anishinaabe birchbark biting on a larger scale, the cutout bites on canvas are instead the means of movement of migratory animals Anishinaabeg and Métis rely on: they are oftentimes the only remnants of these relatives' presence - washed onshore or left in snow or dirt. We rely on their survival and resilience for our own as we also consider what moves us and what is left behind.
As someone with c-PTSD, descended from Native ancestors with similar trauma, these pieces combined acknowledge permanence and impermanence of mental states across families and culture.
Read MoreIn creating yutolishʌtákhwaˀ//a resting place, it was important that the piece exist on both sides of pre- and post-contact. Haudenosaunee chest tattoos depict the land the wearer comes from. After the suicide of several of my cousins, this design does not currently have a young male family member to carry it. But, this piece can still be worn as a yoke over the chest; emblematic of contemporary Oneida regalia, but only composed from pre-contact materials. It is a reminder to keep our hearts wrapped in leather for protection, and remember where we come from.
As Native access to resources was restricted, canvas substituted for hide and bark homebuilding materials. Our senses of place and self are changed by these worlds of substitution and resilience. Emulating Anishinaabe birchbark biting on a larger scale, the cutout bites on canvas are instead the means of movement of migratory animals Anishinaabeg and Métis rely on: they are oftentimes the only remnants of these relatives' presence - washed onshore or left in snow or dirt. We rely on their survival and resilience for our own as we also consider what moves us and what is left behind.
As someone with c-PTSD, descended from Native ancestors with similar trauma, these pieces combined acknowledge permanence and impermanence of mental states across families and culture.
