Coyote Dance with Me - Iitar Nečoova Yakeenax by Mercedes Dorame
"My work explores the construction of culture and ceremony as outcomes of the need to tie one’s existence to the land. My heritage as a member of the Tongva tribe in Los Angeles connects me deeply to the landscape of California. I am interested in the problematics of living in a place that once belonged to your ancestors, a place you feel connected to, yet have lost access to. Our tribe has no federal recognition, and therefore no reservation land and no gathering place. This lack of physical space to congregate in and use for ceremony creates a collection of individuals constantly challenging and grappling with authenticity and inclusion/exclusion from the larger group. By working in landscapes I am connected to, I engage ideas of authenticity, ceremony and community." - Mercedes Dorame
Like many members of the Gabrielino Tongva Indians of California, Mercedes Dorame feels “deep loss at not having space to gather to perform ceremony, at not having a space that is really ours.” Dorame comes from a family of artists, including her father and her sister Katie (whose work is also part of this exhibition). Through her art she aspires to a deeper understanding and reclamation of place, describing work such as this as a “ceremonial intervention.” Coyote Dance With Me explores “the construction of culture and origin stories as outcomes of the need to tie one’s existence to the land.” Here, the photographed land, originally Tongva territory, is full of organic materials used in traditional ceremonies and rituals.