Stories of native american descendants

2006

community project & installation

https://projectrowhouses.org/

“Stories of Native American Descendants” started from an idea about common ancestry among residents in U.S. Based on Edward S. Curtis’s documentations about Native Americans, this project tried to explore the common ancestry among Americans living in the third ward, Houston, Texas while I was in the residence artist at Project Row Houses.

The most important question through this project was “Do you have Native American Blood in you?” The advertisement was made to invite participants to explore this question. Also, through this project, I aimed to present a commonality of people who do not doubt their identity or concept of race, such as American, Caucasian and African American, etc. Additionally, I wanted to present an idea of migration of Native people who migrated through the Bering sea from the Eurasian continent to the North American continent.

The question was posed to 16 participants who agreed to contribute for this project. All those 16 participants were demographically diverse, such as male & female, Caucasian and African-American, Young and Elder. The project took several steps to complete; Interview, Black and White Portrait and Foot mold making.