Projects > Blood, Memory, and the Power of Naming

This family tree charts the European, Native, and Métis bloodlines in my mother’s family. I used “enriched” white and wild rice harvested by the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians to approximate blood percentages.
How Indian Are You? (Families of Lewis Bourisseau and Josephine Paquin)
white rice, wild rice, ball jars, hardware, latex
132”x 168” x 4”
2021
Mackinac Island is sacred for four different Michigan tribes. In this piece, I have painted 1,800 names recorded from all four tribes in the 1870 Durant Roll, an Indian census used to determine who was eligible for annuity payments.
Memorial for Mackinac
sumi ink and gouache on rag paper
110” x 90”
2021
My mother’s family name, Bourisseau, has changed spellings with almost every generation. This piece charts the spelling changes alongside changes in the bloodline.
Lineal Descent (Seven Generations)
white rice, wild rice harvested by Red Lake Band
2021

In the exhibition Blood, Memory, and the Power of Naming, shown at Space 204 Gallery in May, 2021, I explore the history of my family through representations of language in the spaces where disciplines overlap.