果冻传煤

By Rebecca Lyon

Let鈥檚 decolonize women.听Let鈥檚 talk about equal pay.听Let鈥檚 stop the violence against women.听Let鈥檚 insure a women鈥檚 right to choose.听Let鈥檚 talk about liberty for women of all colors.

The woman depicted in this art piece is my great grandmother, Anastasia Nutnaltna, an Alaskan Dena鈥檌na Athabascan woman born in 1886. That same year, our nation鈥檚 most iconic emblem of freedom, the 鈥淪tatue of Liberty Enlightening the World,鈥� was dedicated in New York City.

Anastasia, as a colonized Alaska native woman, enjoyed few liberties during her lifetime.

I have printed her image on a combination of a US twenty dollar bill and the American flag and given her a cartoon crown of the Statue of Liberty. President Andrew Jackson, 鈥淭he Indian Killer," graces the twenty dollar bill now, and recent discussions of replacing his image with that of a woman鈥檚 have inspired hope for more equality and liberty.

Encircling her image is my modern version of a Dena鈥檌na Athabascan 鈥淣itnuqeyiski鈥� counting cord. These traditional objects were used to record events in a person鈥檚 life, and they were made of hide and sometimes included beads, feathers and other objects.

My non-traditional counting cord documents and celebrates the struggles for equal rights for women of all races from the not so distant past till the present.

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To hear Rebecca Lyon speak about this piece in her own words, watch the video below.

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Rebecca Lyon
Counting On Liberty, 2016
Mixed media
Saradell Ard Fund, 果冻传煤 Museum collection, 2016.21.1