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-Miriam Omura-
-Miriam Omura-
Facing America, No DAPL (Clementine Minnie Bordeaux)
handwoven dye painted tencel warp and weft
2017
I first heard about the water concerns and protests of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) from my friends in South Dakota and from Native American news sources I follow. This was months before the story hit the mainstream media in the United States. I was unable to travel to Cannon Ball, North Dakota to show my support for the water protectors, but I felt very strongly for their cause and wondered why it wasn’t making more news in the rest of the country. From my time living in South Dakota on the Pine Ridge Reservation, I knew a few people who were able to stand for their beliefs and speak out for the protection of water and Native American rights; my friend Clementine was one of those protectors. She is Lakota, and her middle name, Minnie, also happens to be the Lakota word for water (“minì”). She and her family are some of the most amazing people I know, and they treated me like a family member during the time I worked in Pine Ridge. For me, this portrait is about the many things this country stands for, including standing up against the odds for what is right and just. The flag is, for me, both a symbol of this country’s injustices and the potential for freedom of expression.
My friend Clementine, a strong advocate and activist for all Native people’s issues, has a long family history of military service for this country. I believe she experiences a conflicting relationship with this country and what the American flag symbolizes. For both the union and stripes of this piece, I wove, dye painted, and then unwove the fabric before reweaving it. This created the shift in the stars of the union and the portrait on the stripes of the flag. The time-consuming process of making the flag, instead of using a commercially made one, allowed me to consider what this country views as priorities: water or oil, and existing treaties with Native tribes or profits for corporations. I intend the unraveling of the flag bottom to reflect the tangled conflicts between the fractions of diverse people and viewpoints in the United States. It also reflects the unraveling of the country on a political level.
Facing America, No DAPL (Clementine Minnie Bordeaux)
2017
tencel, plain weave painted warp and weft, fiber reactive dyes, cotton, brass hardware.
25 x 50”
Detail of Facing America, No DAPL (Clementine Minnie Bordeaux)
2017
tencel, plain weave painted warp and weft, fiber reactive dyes, cotton, brass hardware.
25 x 50”
Detail of Facing America, No DAPL (Clementine Minnie Bordeaux)
2017
tencel, plain weave painted warp and weft, fiber reactive dyes, cotton, brass hardware.
25 x 50”
Detail of Facing America, No DAPL (Clementine Minnie Bordeaux)
2017
tencel, plain weave painted warp and weft, fiber reactive dyes, cotton, brass hardware.
25 x 50”