BecomeOne, 2004
Duratrans, maple, plexiglas, fluorescent lights
32 x 108 inches
An installation housing an illuminated photographic panorama of the Grand River at Six Nations Reserve in Ontario, featuring land that was the artist’s great-grandfather’s farm. The work synthesizes the panorama and native wampum belts, whose designs were symbolic and constitute an indigenous form of abstraction. BecomeOne is based on the traditional Hiawatha Wampum Belt signifying Iroquois unity, symbolizing the original confederation of five nations—Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca—and their respective locations in what is now upper New York State.