One Turtle Island

One Turtle Island is a ceremonial installation conceived as a living monument, aligning directly with the ethos of Be Here Now. Rather than leaning on nostalgia or spectacle, it calls viewers into presence—into the space where memory and becoming meet. Drawing from Pan-African colors, the work acknowledges the intertwined histories of Black and Native peoples, particularly the bonds forged during the forced relocations of the 1830s, when displaced Tribes and African American communities formed networks of refuge and shared survival. Red handprints appear across the surface as communal signatures—many stories, many Nations—each imprint a declaration of continuity: we are still here. Honoring Tribal Women and Mother Earth, One Turtle Island serves as a grounded sanctuary where stillness becomes ceremony and presence becomes a form of resistance.