The Beginning

The beginning is a good place to start, right? Don’t worry, we’re only starting from 10,000+ years ago. That’s how far back we can trace Shinnecock's history, its currently known ties to this land which is crucial to know to give you a sense of how radical the artworks featured in this show are. Fast forward to the 1800s and we have Samuel Parrish; A man who was the primary architect of the land theft from the Shinnecock Nation, who used the proceeds to fund his building to house his collection of artworks. This very building.

I don’t think it much of a stretch to assume he didn’t foresee it featuring the works of indigenous artists, curated by an indigenous person never mind that the indigenous people whose land he stole still existing in this place at all fighting back against the settler-colonial mindset that still rules the East End with an iron fist to this day, that imposes its will on the landscape, building practices, and that strangles any real sense of community and togetherness.

To borrow a phrase from one of my favorite podcasters and storytellers and mangle it to work for me, “You are about to see Indigenous stories everywhere, you beautiful nerds!” In fact, this brings me to the next layer of the “this is super radical” onion; So many of these artists are using photography, a tool that was never meant to capture or be used by black and brown folks, to begin with. 99% Invisible does a great story about this and Vox has a great video about what this portends for our tools of the present and future. It is truly humbling, dear reader, to stand on the shoulders and in the shadow of giants (Jeremy Dennis, for one), having these tools actually honor their promise to the world, to their users, to the viewers of their work product.

The next layer of the radical onion I’m trying to go for here is that when the camera is directed our way, its usually on the worst day of someone’s life, to show pain and suffering and not the boundless black, brown, and indigenous joy and pride and hard work and determination I see on a daily basis. I seek to document that joy and pride, determination, and hard work so that our story and our humanity are actually known.

Seal, Habitat Restoration, & Sovereignty Camp

To start, we have several groups of glass prints (The company actually prints directly to the glass!).

Seal: The seal and flag represent so much Shinnecock, and what stands out to me is how they are used to say ‘We are still here' and to tell fellow Shinnecock ‘You are home’, as is the case with their positioning on the top of the two sixty-one foot monuments flanking Sunrise Highway.

Habitat Restoration: The Nation, back in 2016 received a multi-million dollar grant to restore a significant portion of our shoreline degraded by storms, with that degradation being accelerated by non-indigenous development and climate change. A group of hardworking Shinnecock and folks from Cornell Cooperative Extension (our partner organization) restored acres of habitat and protected our homeland, at least for a short period of time, from worsening erosion.

Sovereignty Camp: A reoccurring pattern of behavior for New York State is to ignore federal law and interfere with tribal nations’ means of supporting themselves and providing housing and food for their community. Immediately following the beginning of the construction of the monuments, New York once again sought to delay the project and exhaust the resources of the tribe with a lawsuit that they knew was unwinnable, but was well within their resources to draw out to drain the Nation of its resources and scare away anyone willing to work with us.

A month-long encampment around the base of the monuments was launched; Part teach-in, part physical protection (DOT had at one point threatened to grind down the monuments overnight) it was an experience that culminated in Shinnecock and its allies working to feed 500+ families to further show our commitment to helping others even when the State’s boot is pressed upon our necks.

Memories/Dreams

In the process of capturing these moments and works by indigenous folks, their allies, and co-conspirators I’ve been capturing so much video that I can never seem to get as much as would satisfy me into public-facing works. It regularly makes appearances in my dreams, which then influence new works.

So this piece is a way for you, dear reader, to step into my dreams. There’s a minimum of three different segments (as it currently stands, total runtime is about 30 minutes for all the segments), each segment bookended by the clip of me at my desk working on a “new” video project. In this particular case, this very video project is the new project, and occasionally there are new videos added to this installation, so you might see something new you haven’t seen on a previous viewing session. I’ll try to keep this playlist updated on this featurette page so you can view them at your leisure.

The InBetween

If you’ve read the wall text, you'll get the sense of how I feel kinda caught in an in-between area wherever I go. My attention span can kinda get shortened, and since there’s so much to capture, and so many ‘fires to be put out’ as it were I don’t often get time to slow down and capture some of the beautiful nature or street photography scenes I run across. These shots are the rare occasion that I do get to do the work, as well as have a little fun.

Mind you, I know very well I’m not a ‘nature photographer’ or ‘fine arts photographer’, and often my use of these photos would probably be sacrilege in certain circles of theirs; see that bird book in the front with the rest of my books for an example of that. Also, being in the in-between isn’t a bad thing all the time. Sometimes it’s a necessary thing to get done so that others don’t have to live that way and sometimes its just part of furthering my ability to do the things I want to do the way I want to do them even if that makes others (lets call them purists or originalists if you will), hmm, uncomfortable.

After all, when we see them (like a Parish or an Audobon or their disciples) get most upset, it is usually because the space is finally being made for people who they have fought long and hard to keep out and so the change is necessary despite their discomfort in the change of the status quo. Besides, if these guys are spinning in their graves, maybe we can use them for a clean, renewable source of energy!

Also, these pieces are for sale (and have alternate crops), so if you are interested let me know or buy from the SAC website. You can find other words on my Redbubble account too!

Further Reading/Listening/Watching & Taking Action