Bodies, Water & Spirit Realm- Undulation

Process of work for WoW/Underwater NY Residency, Governor’s Island, NY, August, 2018.

The project, Bodies, Water & Spirit Realm, centers water- its beauty and sacredness, and the memory of injustice that bodies of water around NYC hold. There was devastating loss of human and ecological life in the waters as settler colonialism began, including the waters surrounding the area of Pagganuck (Governor’s Island). Remembering those lives reverently and contemplating how these bodies of water connect with a historical past are essential to Bodies, Water & Spirit Realm.

Many stories can be told of the past from the way that events and people are memorialized or not memorialized. The placards located on Governor’s Island are examples of how stories of native presence remain under-recognized and dishonored. The piece titled, Undulation, utilizes a placard that is located on Governor’s Island to create rubbings and it is the only placard on the island that references the Lenape.