Land Acknowledgement Series
Gerald Clarke, Cahuilla Band of Indians
Description
How to Say You Are Sorry Without Saying You Are Sorry
15”x 20”x 5”
Styrofoam, Epoxy, Enamel, Rubber
Unceded
22.5”x 24.5”x 5”
Styrofoam, Epoxy, Enamel, Rubber
Unceded I-IV
Water-Based Printing Ink on Paper, Series of 4, Edition of 4, 19”x 26”
For several years now, various institutions have implemented a policy of delivering land acknowledgments as part of their practice. The land acknowledgments that I’ve heard in California are like those I’ve heard in other places such as Vancouver. As an enrolled citizen of the Cahuilla Band of Indians (located within our ancestral lands in Southern California) and living on unceded lands, I felt a connection to the lands here in Vancouver and the Indigenous Nations living here. Describing the land as unceded is factually, correct. However, as an Indigenous person from so-called unceded lands, I don’t sense that the weight of the word is really understood or being expressed. While one may know the definition of the word ‘unceded’, that doesn’t mean that they can truly understand or comprehend the emotional weight of the word upon the tribal people whose lands have been taken. It is for this reason that as an artist, I’ve decided to create this Land Acknowledgment Series.
The Land Acknowledgement Series started with the creation of a maquette for a larger work, entitled Unceded which is in the form of a large rubberstamp featuring the word ‘unceded’. I chose the form of a rubber stamp to convey the idea that the word ‘unceded’ lacks the emotional weight and true recognition of its meaning to Indigenous people. I see it as similar to receiving a birthday card from a loved one that is unsigned but is simply stamped with a signature. Lacking the emotional connection that’s being expressed, it becomes meaningless and could even be seen as an aggression or disregard for Indigenous land rights.
Accompanying the Unceded maquette is a smaller rubber stamp maquette featuring the word ‘sorry’. As a rubber stamp, it too lacks emotional connection and becomes meaningless.
To further investigate the possibilities of this series, I used the maquettes to make relief prints. I used black ink on the Unceded maquette and red ink on the Sorry maquette and combine them in various ways to create prints that represent what I’m expressing through the series. I feel that both the maquettes and the prints offer the opportunity for viewers to reconsider the words, their context, and their histories involving settler governments, relationship, and the treatment of Indigenous people.
The maquettes were carved out of Styrofoam, then coated with resin and painted. The letters are made of wood and covered with linoleum to enable me to use them to print. The Unceded maquette is 22.5”x 24.5”x 5” and features a vinyl label identifying the title, date and series name. The Sorry maquette is 15”x 20”x5” and also has a vinyl label identifying its title, date and series name.
The prints were created using water-based printing ink upon BFK Reeves printing paper and measure 19”x 26”. All are signed and numbered and include a Certificate of Authenticity.
