Undoing
Undoing
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Paper, pencil, ink, graphite, gesso, acrylic paint, India ink, and finger prints.
75” W x 60” H
2017
I began my exploration of decolonizing the United States by drawing a map of the USA today. I inscribed Native nations, Hawaiian names for each state, demarcated original buffalo range and then after the slaughter, and Lakota territory stolen. I erased borders, color-coded states according to the number of lynchings, hand wrote testimonies by enslaved Africans over the states that sanctioned slavery. White washed everything with gesso and stenciled TURTLE ISLAND in graphite. I collaged paper to indicate felony disenfranchisement restrictions by state and stamped my fingerprints to indicate the number of prisoners incarcerated in each state.
TURTLE ISLAND
“The soundscape begins with field recordings of insects, birds, and ocean waves. Gradually, these sounds are replaced by drones and percussion constructed from samples of industrial machines and drones from electric lights, radiators, and fans. The soundscape concludes with samples from shortwave numbers stations- radio broadcasts of unknown origin thought to be associated with government spycraft."
"The musical soundscape for Turtle Island was created in direct response to the development of the map images. Colonization transformed the natural landscape of the US, the sound world similarly shifts from natural sounds to the sounds of industry.”
- Kamala Sankaram