RETRACING THE TRACE
Silence shrouds the experience of sexual assault.
A woman is often strangled to silence and control her, and the aftermath is characterized by a different kind of enveloping disquiet.
Rape is about power and rage. A woman is made powerless and she is silenced.
In previous installations I addressed the issue of violence against women in an abstract and personally detached way. "Retracing the Trace" marks a shift in my approach to this subject.
Each aspect of this work reflects my identity and involvement, from making the body imprint to removing the last cord from the floor and attaching it to the wall. The gallery is a metaphor for my body, as I draw attention to the number of sexual assaults that go unreported, and renounce the traces of my own trauma.
The incidence of violence against Native American women is almost three times greater than the national average and 90 percent of the sexual assaults are by non-Native men. Historical precedents of conquest and colonialism continue to play out.
As a Native American woman I often reference pre-contact culture in my work. The khipu was pertinent to this work, as a device made of cords, and as an endangered Indigenous language. I metaphorically connected the silencing I experienced when I was raped to the silencing of Native American culture and voices.
Retracing the Trace, installation, 2015, Eiteljorg Museum