Ohlone Memorial Project
I like to work site specifically when it makes sense to do so, outside the gallery system. Here are a few stills of such a piece. I created the Ohlone Project to honor the Native Americans who are buried in the Emeryville shell mound, a site thought to be 2500 years old. As I write this, a strip mall of chain stores has newly opened on top of them. Before construction began, 23 skeletons, 300-400 beads and 2 funerary objects were recovered. The small pouches pictured are made of linen dyed in tea and herbs. They contain organic Native American tobacco, a typical offering of the indigenous people of the San Francisco Bay area. With the pouches I engaged in spatial dialogues at the site of the shell mound and imagined a spiritual dialogue with the original inhabitants of that land.