THE WORK OF OTHERS
The Work of Others is an artistic exploration attempting to interpret civic infrastructure and indigeneity within the context of the Houston City Hall building. It is a mixed-media series honoring the Karankawa tribes of southeast Texas, Louisiana, and Mexico border. The installation was a culmination of printmaking, indigenous medicine, and mixed-media sculpture made of construction material and iconography used by the city of Houston. The artwork is made of plants, fabric, plastic, silkscreening, wax pigment, and ready-mades. June 2018.
This artwork is supported by
the Houston Mayor's Office of Cultural Affairs
and the city's Let Creativity Happen granting program.
THE PROJECT INQUIRIES:
This project began with two inquiries
1) who built the city we live in?
2) What does the infrastructure which keeps civic life functioning look like?
These guiding questions led me to create work that intersects city infrastructure,
indigenous methodologies, construction language, and ritual practice.
These objects speak of the past and are a metaphor for two distinct epistemologies, the indigenous worldview, and the Western European worldview. Using city infrastructural language and indigenous methodologies to think about art and make artwork, I have created a space where we can begin to think about labor, indigenous practices, and our ties to this land.
