The Soil You See…

 

The Soil You See…, 2023

Site specific monument at the Constitution Gardens, National Mall
Commissioned by Monument Lab; in the permanent collection of the Tippet Rise Art Center (Fishtail, MT)

A monumental fingerprint with the names of the Apsáalooke (Crow) nation chiefs who signed treaties with the U.S. government, in dialogue with the nearby 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence Memorial.

Wendy Red Star, who is Apsáalooke (Crow), seeks to highlight the legacy of treaties with Indigenous tribes through American history in order to, as she states, “illuminate the fact that every tribe in America has their own experience with treaties and the complexities of the decisions made by their tribal leaders.” Red Star created a giant thumbprint on an island in Constitution Gardens, next to the  Signers of the Declaration of Independence Memorial. In doing so, Red Star highlights the fact that many treaties with Indigenous leaders and the resulting cessation of their tribal lands were brokered not by their signatures, but through a thumbprint or an X. Using her own fingerprint as the model, the sculpture ridges include the names of 50 Apsáalooke (Crow) chiefs and tribal representatives who signed treaties with the U.S. government between between 1825 and 1880. Red Star invites viewers to glimpse this founding story of belonging, land appropriation, and displacement on and through the National Mall.

About Monument Lab: Pulling Together

Monument Lab was invited by the the Trust for the National Mall to curate Pulling Together, the pilot exhibition of the Beyond Granite initiative on the National Mall from August 18-September 18, 2023. The exhibition featured prototype monuments that respond to the central question, “What stories remain untold on the National Mall?” Beyond Granite: Pulling Together built out platforms for artist-led civic engagement, historical interpretation, and storytelling as a means for advancing what it means to imagine, build, live, and grow with monuments in the nation’s capital and beyond. This project, a partnership among the Trust, the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) and the National Park Service (NPS), was funded by the Mellon Foundation’s Monuments Project.

Beyond Granite: Pulling Together was inspired by the 1939 Easter Sunday performance of renowned Black opera singer, Marian Anderson, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, as she was barred from nearby Constitution Hall due to segregation in the capital. Her performance remains monumental in public memory with educator and civil rights activist Mary McLeod Bethune remarking at the time that the performance “told a story of hope for tomorrow–a story of triumph–a story of pulling together, a story of splendor and real democracy.” The goal of the exhibition was to bring together innovative and experimental forms of monumentality and memory-making to shine a light on and acknowledge Indigenous legacies, histories of enslavement, civil rights, LGBTQ activism, pathways for immigration, environmental justice, and other narratives of American struggle and survival.

Director and Founder of Monument Lab, Paul Farber, and Pulitzer Prize Winner,  Salamishah Tillet, curated the exhibition, treating monuments as “a statement of power and presence in public.” They guided the creative process for identifying and curating the artists, installations, and sites for the exhibition. 

Monument Lab was proud to present the work of six visionary artists on the National Mall: Derrick Adams, Tiffany Chung, Ashton T. Crawley, vanessa german, Paul Ramírez Jonas, Wendy Red Star.

Photographed by Steve Weinik