Artifacts

Shovels, Ribbon, Ink. Photographs

1999

It always amazed me how anthropologists are fascinated with the past and blind to the present. As a Native person, I get history rammed down my throat on a regular basis and no honest discourse about Native culture today. The result is a general feeling that somehow the time of the American Indian is past. But what are we to do in the present?

Each of these "artifacts" features a picture of a member of my family, a written story about that person and a colored ribbon that best represents that person. On each of the shovel blades, I have welded a different symbol that represents the various cattle brands that my family currently uses.