Acknowledgment: Indigenous Land, Pachamama, Story Circle

Artist Marie Watt American (Seneca Nation), born 1967

Date2020

MediumCast bronze, cedar, LP Unito blankets, patches, and embroidery floss

Dimensionsheight, width, and depth (overall): 45 × 28 × 28 in. (114.3 × 71.1 × 71.1 cm)
height and width (textile 1, including fringe): 47 1/2 × 46 in. (120.7 × 116.8 cm)
height and width (textile 1, not including fringe): 41 1/2 × 40 in. (105.4 × 101.6 cm)
height and width (textile 2, including fringe): 46 × 49 in. (116.8 × 124.5 cm)
height and width (textile 2, not including fringe): 40 1/2 × 43 1/4 in. (102.9 × 109.9 cm)
height and width (textile 3, including fringe): 39 1/4 × 27 1/2 in. (99.7 × 69.9 cm)
height and width (textile 3, not including fringe): 36 1/2 × 32 1/2 in. (92.7 × 82.6 cm)
height and width (textile 4, including fringe): 47 1/2 × 49 1/2 in. (120.7 × 125.7 cm)
height and width (textile 4, not including fringe): 41 1/2 × 43 1/2 in. (105.4 × 110.5 cm)
height and width (textile 5, including fringe): 35 3/4 × 27 1/2 in. (90.8 × 69.9 cm)
height and width (textile 5, not including fringe): 33 × 27 1/2 in. (83.8 × 69.9 cm)

ClassificationsSculpture

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Matrons of the Arts and with additional funds from various donors, by exchange

Object number2021.10/a-aa

On View

Not on view

Label TextWatt weaves her own experiences as a Seneca woman, including knowledge of Indigenous design techniques, into her artworks. In reference to this work, she has stated, “Bronze is a material historically reserved for the busts of heroic men and equestrian statues. What does it mean to create a monument out of the humble material objects from our daily lives? Acknowledgement is a monument honoring blankets, their histories, and their ties to the land.”

Interleaved between the cedar planks are blanket remnants stitched with texts that reflect on and recognize past generations as well as stories connected to animals, the environment, and land.
[L. Dougherty, "The People's Collection, Reimagined," 2022]ProvenanceCreated Portland, OR, 2020; collection of the artist; [Marc Straus Gallery, New York]; sold to NCMA, 2021.Published ReferencesNancy Strickland Fields, Rose Simpson and Stephen Fadden, To Take Shape and Meaning: Form and Design in Contemporary American Indian Art (exhibition catalogue) (Raleigh, NC: North Carolina Museum of Art, 2024), illus. (color) 103, cited 177.

North Carolina Museum of Art, "The People's Collection," (Raleigh, NC; North Carolina Museum of Art, 2024), illus. (color) 118.Exhibition HistoryRaleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "The People's Collection, Reimagined," October 7, 2022–May 1, 2023.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "To Take Shape and Meaning: Form and Design in Contemporary American Indian Art." March 2-July 28, 2024. Object Rights Statement

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