I’m a member of the Cherokee Nation Wolf Clan, born in America and living in the UK. The Indigenous tribes have history which became entangled in the expansion of modern America and the legacy of that entanglement lives on today.
This piece links the past to the present day. The mother figure: represents present day struggles highlighted in the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) movement – where non-natives come onto reservation land and sexually assault, kidnap and murder Indigenous people (mainly women) with little to no repercussion. The child: represents the children who lost their lives being stolen from their families and forced into the abusive residential “schools” that effectively enforced a cultural genocide on all North American tribes – the children were educated in western values instead of the oral history and traditions shared by Tribal elders.
