Deconstructing Pocahontas
This series of work is dedicated to Matoaka; or Pocahontas, as she is more popularly known. Over the past 400 years, Pocahontas has taken on different identities through oral and written history, the arts, and modern mass media. The true story of her life, her disappearance, and her death remains unknown. As a result, she is shaped and reshaped to fit Western ideologies while her true identity is ignored.
Four hundred years later, the cycle continues as many Indigenous women are murdered and go missing without reparation. It is important to recognize and commemorate these women.
In this series I deconstruct Pocahontas so we can honour Matoaka of the Powhatan Nation; and accordingly, honour today’s missing Indigenous women for who they really are - a daughter, a sister, an auntie, a cousin, a friend, a wife, a mother, a grandmother, a member of their community...
