Exhibitions

Anna Davidson & the Mohawk Watershed Community

Canoe: paper, polyurethane wood, fabric / Mannequin: marker on clothing

This refurbished canoe is a community-created collage containing messages and memories intended for lawmakers written by:

• New York Mills Middle School students living on the flood-prone Sauquoit Creek taught by science teacher Audrey Foote and Onondaga Environmental Institute’s Amy Samuels.
• Middle schoolers who attended the Mohawk River Watershed Youth Climate Summit.
• Cornell Students majoring in Environment and Sustainability taking Davidson’s class, “Art and Science of the Mohawk River.”
• Attendees of the Mohawk River Watershed Research Symposium at SUNY Cobleskill.
• Haudenosaunee teachers who spoke to Davidson’s class (Mr. Tom Porter, Ms. Kay Olan, Mr. Hickory Edwards).

Additionally, the canoe contains historical photos, stories, scientific data, names of species residing in the Mohawk River Watershed, and memories from the class. Davidson plans to paddle these messages down the Mohawk and Hudson to Albany and exhibit it at the New York State Capitol. As a performance piece, she will be wearing the outfit she created on the mannequin during the days of the canoe trip. The purpose of this work is to shed light on the dynamic Mohawk River Watershed and to call on lawmakers to vote for the protection of water and a cleaner environment.

Justin Chen

The Mohawk Ornitholomatrix

Acrylic on canvas

The Mohawk Ornitholomatrix is an acrylic painting on a 36” tall by 12” wide canvas. I was inspired by and brought together many things in this piece: the style of the Dutch painter Piet Mondrian; the changing seasonal presence of birds, and of course, the Mohawk River Watershed (MRW). Mondrian’s works are simultaneously very geometric and vibrant, abstract yet figurative. Drawing from his style, although my work appears as an abstractly colored matrix at first glance, it is actually a strong representation of bird science. This piece exemplifies art and science as one, demonstrating how scientific data can inform art, and how art can incorporate various avenues of scientific knowledge. Through its colorful matrix format, it integrates together information about the conservation status, seasonal presence, and rarity of selected species within a defined geographical range, the MRW.

To understand this piece, each one-inch row (and color) represents a particular bird species (29 total) classified by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation(NYSDEC) as either Endangered (red), Threatened (orange), or Special Concern (yellow). Each one-inch column represents a month in the year. The degree of color shading within each square box represents how common a species is found in a given month, across the entire Mohawk River Watershed as a whole, using data from e-Bird. The darker the color shade, the more common the species is in a given month. Completely black boxes indicate no presence, and the 3.5” rows of black shading above and below the matrix represent the remaining 11 NYSDEC category-classified species not found within the watershed at all.

Jacob Duffles

Living Water Dress

Worbla, acrylic, cotton

This wearable art piece serves as a eulogy to mankind’s relationship with water. After reading Betsy Damon’s book, Water Talks, I was inspired by Damon’s approach to reintegrating water within our lives and conception of the environment. She emphasized the holism that is water; it is the integral component of all life forms and existence on Earth. This gentle yet fervent reminder revitalized my relationship with water as I began thinking about ways in which to make a personal artwork that correctly manifests and represents this relationship.

Ever since I was a young boy, I was obsessed with water. At summer camp, I received the ‘Aquaman’ award, affirmed by my camp counselors for “coming alive” in the water during our weekly canoe trips and hikes to waterfalls. My Brazilian heritage brought me closer to the ocean, spending ample time at the beach and tide pools neighboring my home in Búzios, Rio de Janeiro. Whenever I explore, my encounters with water deepen my connection to whatever environment I find myself in. My time at the Mohawk River was spent learning about what the river means to the communities that surround it, and how the water and its health plays a role in the community well-being as well as their commitment to its preservation.

Living Water Dress is composed of a corset, clear tubing accessory, and cloth skirt. The corset is made using worbla and craft foam that was then sanded and distressed, later painted white. I overlayed the corset with clear vinyl to give the effect of water ripples. The actual water present on the dress is collected from the Mohawk River tributary, Schoharie Creek. I contained it within clear aquarium tubing and then dyed the water using the same fabric dye so it could be visible in the tubes. The skirt is made from recycled fabric dyed using a sky-blue fabric dye. I incorporate acrylic laser cuts along the waistband of the skirt and breastplate of the corset. I molded it using a heat gun to give it a more aquatic splash effect. The water itself is the highlight of the art. The sensation of modeling water collected from a natural environment allows both the artist and viewer to appreciate the form of water and admire the spectacle of water coupled with the human body.

Olivia Fisher

Assault, Desalt

Assemblage – glass, sand, gravel, rope

Kanienkehaka (Mohawk) storyteller Kay Olan says the magic of water lies in its resilience; in its power to flow around obstacles and retain its identity in the process. Yet, the magnificent Mohawk River, once the site of vibrant Kanienkehaka villages and the birthplace of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, has been permanently altered by forces of ethnic and environmental colonialism. Its body has been contorted into the Erie Canal and constrained within a system of locks and dams– the lifeblood of an expanding Euro-Western empire. Now, American settlements lie where vibrant Kanienkehaka villages and farms once were, incinerated during the genocidal campaigns of Generals Clinton and Sullivan. Furthermore, a growing body of scientific literature suggests that the water itself has been colonized. Endocrine-disrupting microplastics. PCBs. Fecal coliform bacteria. Road salt. Mercury, which has rendered its fish unsafe for human consumption.

Assault, Desalt is a functional assemblage sculpture intended to remediate the environmental and ethnic colonization that continues to afflict the Mohawk River. Crafted from found materials sourced within the Mohawk River Valley and Tompkins County, NY, including glass bottles, sand, gravel, soil, chemistry equipment, and rope, the project serves as a dual water filtration and desalination system. Assault, Desalt, inspired by New York City-based ecological artists Dylan Gauthier, Betsy Damon, and Mary Mattingly, symbolizes the reclamation of identity and decolonization of the Mohawk River. This work harnesses the combined power of biofiltration, adsorption, and solar energy to not only remediate pollutants from the water, but also to sustain Kanienkehaka foodways. Viewers are invited to use the purified water to nourish the heirloom Seneca Red Stalker Corn seedling in a nearby pot, a crop that is culturally-significant among the Haudenosaunee. Ultimately, the piece urges audiences of all backgrounds to contemplate the inextricable link between environmental degradation, colonialism, and the enduring resilience of water, particularly in the context of the Mohawk River Watershed.

Project 6

Hans Garcia

Charcoal on paper

In my charcoal drawing, I seek to encapsulate the profound historical narrative woven into the currents and shores of the Mohawk River. This waterway has been a witness to centuries of human endeavor, from the indigenous peoples who first settled its banks to the European settlers who forged trade routes along its path. In this drawing, I depict how different people and cultures interacted with the Mohawk River and with each other. The stories of Mohawk storytellers and activists, namely Kay Olan and Hickory Edwards, inspired me to take a closer look at what water meant to the Haudenosaunee people and European settlers. I also found inspiration in the story of the Two Row Wampum, a living treaty between the Dutch and the Haudenosaunee, and found ways to incorporate the treaty in the drawing. The only splash of color is the aforementioned Wampum belt, and this is done intentionally to emphasize the important role the treaty played in the creation of the piece.

Throughout the drawing, I accentuate the dual existence of the Haudenosaunee way of life as well as their European counterparts. However, I shed light on the important differences between the two people, and I aim to critically examine the question of “Was the Two Row Wampum Treaty honored?” During my study of the Mohawk River and its history, I was often inspired by Haundenosaunee ideas of water as living, breathing, and unchanging. I was also horrified by the horrific atrocities committed along its riverbanks during the Clinton-Sullivan campaign, and several visits to the Mohawk River itself have provided me with a much different perspective than the one gained from Mohawk storytellers. I found a heavily polluted river, with various levels of contaminants flowing through the heart of New York State. I combined these contrasting topics in this charcoal drawing in a very realistic way, with the goal of maximizing contemplation amongst the viewers. I hope the audience will take inspiration from this piece to delve into a deeper understanding of the contemporary Mohawk River, with a greater understanding of its past and a skeptical view of its future.

Project 7

Wulfgar Ramsey

Warning! Do not Use this Map

Relief Print, Film Photography, and Pen

Warning! Do not Use this Map is a depiction of the Mohawk River as it is, was, and might be. Devised of a conglomeration of different mediums and inspirations, Warning! Do not Use this Map is not a map made for travel (if you want to arrive at your destination) as it is not a map meant to colonize, as so many maps of North America were. Instead, it is an imaginarium of how the artist sees the river, and intentionally made to deceive and befuddle any who would use the map to chart their course through the Mohawk. Keen observers and those familiar with the river will notice inconsistencies with reality in how the Mohawk is depicted, because the scale of the map is dependent on the artist’s familiarity with that area.

In using reference maps, from the earliest Dutch depictions to modern satellites, the artist has attempted to create a Mohawk River throughout the years investigating how his perception of the river may be different from the true nature of the Mohawk. Inspired by the artist’s great love of maps and their ability to turn the mundane into fantastical, Warning! Do not Use this Map encapsulates the artist’s semester long study of the Mohawk River into one rendered piece.

Chris Rivera

Echoes of Creation

Glass, stones, shells, and found objects

My art piece is a mosaic depicting the Haudenosaunee Creation Story, featuring the figures of Skywoman and Turtle. This mosaic is crafted on canvas using various materials, including glass, sea shells, rocks, pebbles, beads, feathers, and symbolic elements like a gear representing the sun. Some of these materials were sourced directly from areas surrounding the Mohawk River, infusing the artwork with a tangible connection to the land and waters that hold immense cultural significance for the Haudenosaunee people.

I am deeply inspired by the cultural richness of the Haudenosaunee people and their creation narrative. This artwork serves as a homage to their heritage, aiming to honor and preserve their traditions within the context of the Mohawk River Watershed. The mosaic seeks to evoke a sense of reverence for Haudenosaunee knowledge and spirituality, while also highlighting the profound connection between their creation story and the ecological significance of the Mohawk River.

I seek to underscore water’s role in their creation narrative and remind viewers of the Indigenous stewardship practices that have sustained bodies of water for centuries. In doing so, not only is the beauty of the narrative captured, but also its enduring relevance in understanding our relationship with the environment.

Sachi Srivastava

Earthen Journal

Mixed media: Scrap and sketching paper, charcoal, marker, watercolor, adhesive, raw materials (wood, leaves, plants, fungi, river water, mud)

Earthen journal is first and foremost a testament to the inherent life and agency of land which has been described for centuries by Indigenous wisdom, storytelling, and ways of knowing. These themes are specifically represented in this piece through what I have come to learn about the worldview of the Kanienkeha:ka, “The People of the Flint” who continue to inhabit Turtle Island and the land now known as the Mohawk River Valley. As the current political moment grapples with Indigenous erasure, displacement, and dispossession worldwide, and the environmental issues facing the Mohawk River are exacerbated by a systemic negligence to consult the perspectives of First Peoples, Earthen Journal contains my hopes for an Indigenous-lead future for ecological restoration and a society-scale rejection of the commodification and extraction of water resources. These hopes and imaginings begin with a deeply personal shift in my own worldviews and engagements with nature as reflected through the journal entries, collages, poetry, and drawings I have created using mostly materials sourced from field excursions in the Mohawk River Valley and along the banks of the River and its tributaries. My central message and call to action is a return of land rights to Indigenous peoples (Land Back) and a grappling with the ways settler colonialism has ingrained itself in our minds – and in turn our ecological and social communities.

Another concept I reflect in this journal is the fact that the natural materials woven into the pages hold the stories of local and Indigenous peoples, hence the turning of these land-based stories into a book. I hope to catalyze my viewers’ understanding of how our history and our life source is tied to the land we inhabit, and that the land therefore becomes animated and alive with our histories rather than a mute, extractable commodity. Contemporary systems rely on our disconnectedness from land to degrade it and extract resources from it, and my hope is to disrupt that notion however I can. To offer a piece of your own story and your own life force to this journal, please leave your fingerprints on the designated page (or wherever you would like) using water collected from the “Pot that washes itself,” a hydro-geological formation in the Mohawk territory of Canajoharie, and sediment dredged from the bottom of the Mohawk River.

Charlotte Tidball

To The Spirit Of Water

Paper Birch (Betula papyrifera)

This piece is a Paper Birch bark ‘scroll’ made from locally sourced materials. The scroll contains a passage from Ohenten Kariwatekwen: The Mohawk Thanksgiving Address. The Ohenten Kariwatekwen is a traditional prayer or greeting often recited at the beginning and conclusion of gatherings of Kanienʼkehá:ka (Mohawk people), with the purpose of aligning all participants’ mindsets cooperatively toward achieving the greatest good for everyone involved. Translated from Mohawk, Ohenten Kariwatekwen means “the words that are spoken before all others.” The passage inscribed onto this scroll specifically gives thanks to the water, the rivers, the lakes. This passage reflects the immense importance of the Mohawk River and its waters for the Mohawk people as a life-sustaining force that quenches thirst, connects communities throughout the region, allows minds to unite in gratitude, and represents the interconnected relationship between the Mohawk people and the natural world around them.

Within Mohawk culture, sacred prayers and narratives like the Ohenten Kariwatekwen hold profound significance. Such expressions were customarily conveyed solely through spoken words, passed down across generations by means of enduring oral traditions rather than being committed to writing. The birch material here represents an indispensable connection between the Mohawk and their land and traditions. Supplying a versatile natural material, the Birch tree was traditionally used to construct vital items for survival such as canoes and housing, with its papery exterior also serving as a canvas for artistic expression. Confronting the decline of the Mohawk language and culture among the younger generation, where many are no longer fluent speakers, this piece aims to present an indigenous prayer in a contemporary physical form. However, it does so while adhering faithfully to Mohawk cultural traditions and artistic aesthetics, ensuring these customs are preserved and displayed respectfully.

Ho’ohila Kawelo

Stewards of the River: Turtle, Wolf, and Bear

Acrylic, plastic, and natural materials

The Kanyenke’haka (Mohawk), People of the Flint, are the original stewards of the Mohawk River, which lies in their traditionally occupied territory. Indigenous stewardship of the Mohawk River (and contemporary lack of such stewardship) impacts the health of the entire watershed. Indigenous people’s dispossession from these lands and waters has directly influenced the stability of the ecosystem and the natural hydrological regime of the Mohawk River.

Colonial industry and agriculture have replaced traditional forms of land use and channelized the river, bending it to be “productive” for western society. Settlers do not listen to the river and its needs (as the Kanyenke’haka do) only using the land as they see fit; with the ever persistent goal to make money off of the land. This art piece is meant to depict the diaspora between the river’s health pre- and post-Indigenous dispossession from the watershed.

In the first canvas the turtle, wolf, and bear represent the clans of the Kanyenke’haka living in peace and harmony with the water of the Mohawk and the resources it provides. The second canvas provides a contemporary representation of the river, its movement restricted by the canal system, suffocating in pollution. The materials used to overlay the riverbed on both canvases are very intentional; juniper berries representing the traditional beading art of the Kanyenke’haka and plastic pieces recovered from the Mohawk River bank providing a sample of what lives in the river today.

Kiersten Louie

Paper, watercolor, charcoal

My work forms the shape of the Mohawk River Watershed. Papers and articles about the Mohawk River and the towns along it make up the background to show the long history of the land. Two invasive species were drawn in charcoal and six native species were painted in color to provide representation for the animals that inhabit the watershed today while highlighting the species that have a long standing history in the watershed.

Metztli Sol Maldonado Navarro

TRENZA

Performance piece – yarn, ribbon, bottles, my body

I am a third year student at Cornell University inspired by Indigenous Resistance and environmental activism in local climate-critical communities. As an indigenous Mexican woman and the daughter of migrant farmworkers, who now studies Environment and Sustainability within the bounds of a private, elite institution, I draw from the intricacies and contradictions of my own identity.

I implicate my own body in my art work. As a life-long dancer and folklorista, my instinct is performance art and corporeal craft. I use my body in my artwork to confront and interrogate both my complicity, my activism, and my own cultural collisions. In this work, my body serves as the convergence of both my own indigenous roots, and all that I have learned from and shared with the Mohawk people. My body is also a real, physically expressed manifestation of the weight beared by the Mohawk people, and all people of the globe, suffering from chemical violence on our watersheds. Private enterprise and capitalistic endeavors like that of General Motors and Reynolds Metal, who completely destroyed the long-term health and ecosystem services of the Mohawk River, have weighed on the traditions and public health of the Mohawk people, like the heavy water-filled bottles weighed on my own corporeality and mobility as I navigated through the natural space around me in this piece.

I fashion my hair into two trenzas with multi-colored ribbons as a demonstration of my own indigeneity and affliction, and as an emblem of the way Indigenous people everywhere are interconnected the same way three strands of hair in a braid are intricately woven together. My flowing braids-embellished with ribbons, the gold arracadas hanging from my ears, my traditionally embroidered top– are all calculated decisions to establish myself and take up space within the river as a “picturesque” or archetypal Mexican woman. My decision to attach plastics to the ends of my braids are a very literal expression of the contaminants affixed to, and incapacitating the people of the Mohawk River Valley. As I stumble through the landscape aware of the extra weight I am bearing, I bear witness to all of the suffering endured as a result of the infiltration of the capitalist regime.

I was inspired to subject myself to the elements of the river directly by artist Emilio Rojas’s piece, Becoming Water. In it he captures himself laying on a rock at the bed of a waterfall. He finds liberation in rejecting the demands of the corporate workforce– he rejects domestication, he rejects being trapped within the bounds of a building. He frees himself and his spirit in nature, just as the Mohawk River liberated me.

Nessa Sandoval

Kailee Tomas

Ua Mau ke Ea o ka ʻĀina i ka Pono. The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.

Mixed media sculpture

The culture, spirituality, and very identity of Indigenous peoples across the world is tied to the land. By nature, colonialism targets the land. Disconnecting people from their native lands, disconnects them from an important aspect of their culture and history and family that cannot be replaced. This mixed media collage and sculpture emphasizes how colonialism pollutes the land while simultaneously polluting the people Native to it. Walking along the Cohoes Falls and other parts of the Mohawk River earlier in the semester, bottles upon cans upon handles of empty alcohol pollution was found disproportionately to other types of litter observed on my walks. One part of this country’s history that colonialism wants the public to forget is the introduction of alcoholism into Indigenous communities by European settlers. As alcohol pollutes the sacred body and the cherished families and communities of Native folks, the products of capitalism and overconsumption pollutes the sacred bodies of the land. This is shown through the glass river that forms the shape of the Mohawk using broken alcohol bottles collected along different parts of the Mohawk River.

This piece fights against erasure—erasure of history and erasure of identity. It lays out the way Indigenous minds thrive in the knowledge of our ancestral culture and the pain of our past and present. Through a collage of cutouts from protests in today’s time and snapshots from a Kanienkehaka (Mohawk) newspaper that lays out the cultural value of the tribes belonging to the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and tells their Creation Story. This piece also highlights how Indigenous people—in spite of colonialism’s agenda—live on today. The piece is somewhat divided into an understanding of past and present; however, the lack of absoluteness in this characteristic works to show the continued existence of Indigenous people. The imagery of the longhouse bridges the gap between the two canvases, because the Haudenosaunee, the people of the longhouse live on today—their culture lives on. Indigenous people, we fight back against the erasure. We fight for our culture, our language, our people, our land. The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness. The life of the people will only thrive when justice is achieved for my people and all Indigenous people displaced and decimated. “Ua Mau ke Ea o ka ʻĀina i ka Pono” as a piece is a montage of my fight for the Kanienkehaka (Mohawk), for my people in Hawaiʻi, for Palestine—for Indigenous justice all around the world.

Abbey Yang

Foam boards, putty, acrylic paint, ink, epoxy resin, rubber paste.

This artwork is inspired by the stunning Cohoes Falls and the Haudenosaunee creation story, as told by Kay Olan. It highlights the importance of canoes for the indigenous people along the Mohawk River. At the center is a white canoe, representing the legendary stone canoe used by the Peacemaker to spread his message of Kariwiio (the good mind). I used a mix of materials to create a small-scale version of Cohoes Falls. My goal is to show the powerful connection between nature and the cultural traditions of the Mohawk River Valley, emphasizing how the natural world shapes local culture.

Paul Yang

Upstate New York Maple syrup

The main influences of this piece are Tangren (糖人), a traditional chinese sugar art form, and the Great Tree of Peace of the Haudenosaunee people. Tangren is when artists melt sugar into a malleable substance and manipulate it into various shapes. Most commonly, rock candies are used as the medium. However, I opt to use maple syrup because of its iconic status in North America and its significance to the indigenous communities of the Mohawk Valley.

The Great Tree of Peace stands as a symbol of unity and the nurturing nature of peace. To the Haudesaunee people, this tree serves as a beacon of hope that’s been passed on for generations and still carries the intentions of its first tellers. Cultures around the world all have legends with the purpose of teaching and maintaining harmony. This piece serves as a reminder of the importance of amity and to encourage individuals to keep tales and traditions of peace alive.

Louis Zavala

Plant materials, flowers, natural fibers

As I was learning about the indigenous people of the Mohawk River, I found myself influenced by their cultures and traditional craftsmanship. I present my latest piece—a hand-woven basket inspired by the Mohawk people. Using locally sourced plant materials, flowers, and fibers found through Buttermilk Falls and a small farm around Groton, I thoughtfully crafted this piece to show my own personal connection to the environment and reverence for nature.

This basket serves as a vessel for storytelling and environmental advocacy, aiming to celebrate my deep connection to nature, while also bringing awareness to environmental issues in upstate New York. In obtaining the materials, I would find myself fully immersed in the forests I explored to connect with the process and with the outdoors. Through its environmental elements, the work explores themes of beauty, community, and environmental degradation. I invite viewers to reflect on the spirit of the Mohawk and the importance of preserving the natural environment, especially in upstate New York. This project aims to contribute to ongoing conversations about the intersection of art, culture, and environmental advocacy.