Sacred Lands | Turtle Island 

Tree Installation. 2023. 12’ x 4’ x 20’. Water-soluble chalk dye.

Summer 2023  |  Governors Island

Residing at the Governors Island Block House, there was an opportunity to explore its present context, military  past, and indigenous presence (or lack thereof). As a way to move beyond the dialogue  surrounding “land acknowledgment”, I explored another form of commemoration on  encompassing a natural element fused with ancestral stories, or sacred tool and repository, to  honor indigenous culture. I interviewed Hebee of the American Indian Community House on Turtle Island, typically called Governors Island to better understand the lands' origin. The tree symbolizes the Turtle Island creation on story: as upon the back  of the turtle grew trees rising from the water with colorful fauna, ultimately becoming these sacred lands.