Indian Petroglyph

An ongoing series, the petroglyphs continue the ancient practice of carving images into rock; often referred to as primitive or archaic forms of mark making, petroglyphs will outlast most cultural production. Contemporary petroglyphs which are created in urban and natural environments, they can be found on tidal rocks in my home community of Sitka Alaska, outside the National Gallery of Canada, the Vancouver Art Gallery in British Columbia, and the sidewalk of New York City. The petroglyph at the National Gallery of Canada entitled Nature Will Reclaim You depicts a fleur de lis pattern reminiscent of French wallpaper, several of the petroglyphs are simply the word Indians written in the font used by the Cleveland Indians baseball franchise; the text itself a logo for racism and cultural amnesia. These works remove these iconic images from their context, because of their permanence, the works will continue to remove these images from the context in which they were conceived, removing their relevance through time, eventually they will become purely a reflection of cultural intersection.