The Narrative of a Fence

I made this piece in response to the McGirt v. Oklahoma Supreme Court ruling that returned much of Oklahoma to Native Territories. I am from Claremore, OK, which is within the Cherokee Nation. I am part Cherokee and the ruling made me reevaluate my hometown, its landscapes, and its relationships to cultural, societal, and environmental factors. I use the metaphor of the fence to explore this concept because fences by nature divide and separate, defining who land belongs to. The photo installation is built as a corral with photos along the inside and outside, making viewers question if they belong inside the corral or outside of it. Seeing how people approach the installation, if they choose to walk inside or not, is part of the experience. The repetition of photos in rails alludes to narrative, like in film reels, film stills, or animation. Besides the interconnecting and disconnected corral structure of the piece, the photographs portray how human interaction interrupts the landscape with continued development and how that will impact future generations.