gratitude code root mural

2009
felt tip marker & acrylic on sapling roots & plywood
approx. 114 x 48”

Created for my 2009 solo show of the same name at hq gallery in Williamsburg, this sculptural wall piece features 11 sapling roots, meticulously peeled, painted, mounted & then painstakingly adorned with the word gratitude, handwritten repeatedly across each root surface in three languages; Plains Cree syllabics, English & binary code. Following the roots’ sinuous landscape, the repeated word becomes an interactive, chant-like affirmation of multicultural, multi-dimensional appreciation and evolution.

Like the rest of the natura directus et delectabilis series it is part of, I collaborate with elements gathered from the land by placing these roots in minimalist configurations that emphasize the communications they make through the aesthetic of their sensual forms.

The vibrant red of the roots is visually arresting, emotionally evocative and culturally symbolic. In red, the roots look strikingly similar to mammalian veins, emphasizing the awareness of organic and spiritual connection between all living things that underscores North American Indigenous thought. Red is also the color that commonly represents the east on the Medicine Wheel. In this fundamental component of Native American spiritual teachings, the east is associated with inspiration and growth.

As sensuous artifacts of the trees’ subterrainian quest for sustenance, the roots become an allegory for the power of the subconscious mind, and potential for personal, communal and universal growth. The series also contains the very literal reference of connection to one’s roots, a vital subject in the post/colonial/modern environment of the Americas. There’s a well known Native American saying that you can’t know who you are or where you are going until you know where you come from.

As a state of mind fundamental to creative manifestation. Gratitude is central to both Cree traditional teachings and the equally ancient yet re-emerging Law of Attraction concepts, as well as other cultural/spiritual disciplines.

I often use language in my work, with layered intention. The words can be taken literally, and/or there may be a wordplay or double entendre. When more than one language is used, they become an expression of distinct cultural paradigms – often co-existing in the same piece. Repeated/rhythmic words become an agent for entering the realms of ritual, trance and cure. And especially in the case of Indigenous language, it is an expression of the land itself.

The hand-rendered binary code playfully points to the fundamental relationship between nature and technology (another recurring focus) and a long history of American Indian incorporation of and ‘takes’ on Western technologies. Handwriting the code creates a ‘reverse appropriation’ of the digital realm, transforming and adopting it into a spiritually directed process, with a very organic and ‘tribal’ look.

Indigenous ways of life are timelessly and inherently ‘green’. My collaboration with the fantastic serpentine forms of the roots bespeaks a personal and cultural reverence between the people and the land, and the fundamental nature of this relationship, particularly in the face of global warming.

related series:

antler series

braided series

affirm/nation series