DONNA HOUSE AND Truman Lowe

When Wisconsin artist Truman Lowe decided to work with ethnobotanist Donna House for Between the Lakes, the two individuals knew from the beginning that their collaboration would address the loss of people and culture that pervades this area. Like other projects in the exhibition, this installation uses a sense of history that deliberately extends beyond the last 150 years to include the thousands of years of Native settlement and culture that so prospered in this area.

In their collaborative installation, a tree stands as the central element. At once referencing the natural and the constructed, the tree is a pillar representing steadfastness and perseverance. The willowy leaves, made from vellum but reminiscent of ribbon appliqué, are ghostlike and based on the handiwork of Lowe’s mother. Two baskets, representing the past and the present, demonstrate both Ho-Chunk and Oneida craftsmanship and relate to the tribal affiliations of the two artists. Lowe was born and raised in the Ho-Chunk community of Black River Falls; Donna House is Navajo on her mother’s side and part Oneida on her father’s. Each basket contains various elements relating to the life of today and the life forever lost to us. Rice, tubers, cranberries, corn, and the paper of songs in one of the baskets show the past we can barely access. The second basket shows us various metal and plastic objects that structure our lives, from mobile phones and Coca-Cola bottles to toy cars and global positioning devices. Two video projectors installed in the gallery show changing images of Ho-Chunk settlements no longer in existence as well images of Italian immigrants that settled Genoa, Wisconsin. The elegiac nature of the installation makes us think about the exploitation and destruction that underlies contemporary civilization.

View Work by Donna House & Truman Lowe