Ghost Trap MT Study O1 from the installation BREACH/Logbook20:NEBULOUS
Courtney M. Leonard, Shinnecock / American, born 1980
2019
Ceramic, glaze
Overall: 18 × 10 × 10 in. (45.7 × 25.4 × 25.4 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Commissioned by the Hood Museum of Art; Purchased through the Virginia and Preston T. Kelsey 1958 Fund, the William S. Rubin Fund, the Alvin and Mary Bert Gutman 1940 Acquisition Fund, the Kira Fournier and Benjamin Schore Contemporary Sculpture Fund, and the Phyllis and Bertram Geller 1937 Memorial Fund
BREACH: LOGBOOK 2020©
2019.114.15
Geography
Place Made: United States, North America
Period
21st century
Object Name
Sculpture
Research Area
Native American
Native American: Woodlands
Sculpture
Not on view
Label
Rooted in her connection to and knowledge of the sea, Courtney M. Leonard compels us to interrogate our own relationships to water. BREACH | Logbook 20: NEBULOUS invites us into a dialogue about the violence we perpetuate against our environments—and against the acquatic ecosystem in particular. This site-specific installation explores the impact of "ghost fishing," which occurs when castaway aquaculture traps and nets are left in open waters. They continue fishing aquatic species in a ghost-like fashion, with ropes and cords that often fatally entangle whales, seals, and other species.
"The Shinnecock reservation is located on the east end of Long Island, with the Hamptons bordering our territory. As a small, coastal Indigenous community that was not relocated from our homelands, we are dealing with major environmental concerns such as rising waters, coastal erosion, toxic shellfish warnings, nitrogen run-off from industrial agriculture and sewage, and violations of our fishing rights, water rights, and land rights as cultural stewards . . . our survival was and continues to be dependent on maintaining our stewardship of the land and waters for all our relations." —Courtney Leonard
From the 2021 exhibition Form & Relation: Contemporary Native Ceramics, curated by Jami C. Powell, Curator of Indigenous Art and Morgan E. Freeman, DAMLI Native American Art Fellow
Course History
NAS 18.01/ENVS 18.01, Indigenous Environmental Studies, Nicholas Reo, Fall 2020
NAS 81.04/ENVS 85.01, Land, Love, and Kinship, Fall 2020
ANTH 11/NAS 11, Ancient Native Americans, Madeleine McLeester, Fall 2020
PORT 8, Brazilian Portraits, Carlos Cortez Minchillo, Winter 2021
LACS 22.11, Latinx Intergenerational Literature, Marcela di Blasi, Spring 2021
ANTH 3.01, Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, Sienna Craig, Winter 2022
Exhibition History
Form & Relation: Contemporary Native Ceramics, Citrin Family, Engles Family, and Harteveldt Family Galleries, and Luise and Morton Kaish Gallery Stair, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 6, 2021–July 23, 2022.
Provenance
The artist, Santa Fe, New Mexico; commissioned by the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, 2019.
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