Ghost Dance

Charcoal, acrylic, latex & spray paint on paper, 39” x 25”, 4,000 USD

This work was started as a demonstration for my students. It is also part of my ‘erasure series.’ The Ghost Dance is a sacred ceremony incorporated into various Native American belief systems. There are a number of things being erased or painted over: graffiti, the image of Chief Sitting Bull, the person painting over Sitting Bull, and finally the painting itself. It is all collapsing on itself in a chamber of echoes.

Curator’s Note: Sitting Bull (1831-1890) was a Hunkpapa Lakota leader who led his people during years of resistance against U.S. government policies. He was killed by Indian agency police while attempting to arrest him because it was feared he would join the Ghost Dance movement, seen by authorities as a threat to White settlers.