LithographyThese lithographs were created at Tamarind Institute in 2012 as part of my thesis for the Master of Landscape Architecture program at University of New Mexico.
Salmon Life Cycle - This lithograph is a combination of photo collage and drawing using various images relating to the life cycle of salmon. Salmon scales are the pattern within the background along with the gravel in which they lay their eggs. The salmon eggs in this image are also combined to create a salmon berry and is symbolic to the first salmon ceremony by the Northwest tribes.
Celilo Map - This lithograph was created to help reveal the loss of an important cultural, ecological, hydrological, and geological landscape between The Dalles Dam and the John Day Dam. The Dalles Dam closed its gates in 1957 and inundated over 20 miles of river and fishing grounds such as Celilo Falls and The Narrows which were a cultural and spiritual center for the Columbia River tribes for over 13,000 years.
Buffalo Dancers - This lithograph is a combination of images and new technologies applied to the lithography. The images consist of a wrecked train along with Buffalo Dancers celebrating the derailment as the buffalo standing over the very industrial infrastructure that brought the expansion of European immigrants out West. As a result of the lay of tracks across the Great Plains, thousands of buffalo were shot and killed just for their hides from the moving trains as a means of killing off an important food source for the tribes who were sustained by all its parts. The buffalo in this image almost stands with its hide removed showing the strength in its physical form and its resilience for survival.
Salmon People - This lithograph represents that Salmon People along the Columbia River and contains historical images of the Wasco & Wishram people who lived adjacent to Celilo Falls. These images were layered with the scale of a salmon that is printed in four colors made with local minerals from Oregon that were used as pigment to make the lithography ink. I collected the minerals and processed them into a pigment to symbolically represent the minerals that exist in the spawning grounds of the salmon. Each of the salmon species make the migration journey back to the spawning grounds with the help of magnetic fields as well as the unique mineral fingerprint found within the tributary stream or river created by the layers of geological history that is the bedrock of the watershed. The scale of a salmon is similar in appearance to a human fingerprint and identifies each one of us as unique human beings. These concentric rings on the scale also reveal the cycles of seasons and years that each salmon has lived. These unique cultures who were defined by the environment in which they live developed a symbiotic life ways with the salmon who not only provided a source of food, but was also a valuable material used to trade for other materials. The annual migration of humans to the cultural, spiritual, and economical gathering at Celilo Falls coincided with these migrations of spawning salmon.
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Salmon Life cycle
Celilo Map
Detail of Buffalo Dancers
Salmon People
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