HD video, bonded stone Houdon replica bust, antique surveyor's tripod, artificial turf
Sound: members of Six Nations of the Grand River Territory
75 x 72 x 72 inches
An installation of video projected onto a bust of George Washington mounted on a surveyor’s tripod. During the Revolutionary War, Washington, known to the Haudenosaunee (Six Nations) as Hanödaga:yas, or Town Destroyer, ordered a brutal campaign against them in which his generals devastated some 60 villages, and hundreds of prosperous houses, farms, and orchards. Seizing livestock and goods, his armies burned the rest to the ground, destroying the food supply and forcing the people to flee as refugees to Niagara, to starve through a frigid, lean winter in which many died. Through historic maps, documents, portraits, site markers and other materials, the video traces the course of the campaign and the seizure of Haudenosaunee homelands in its aftermath.
The artist is grateful to the Woodland Cultural Centre and members of Six Nations for their generous contributions to the sound track.