Crow Artist' Work will Adorn National Mall

An artist hailing from the Crow Tribe is setting a historic precedent with an innovative exhibition in the heart of the country.

Wendy Red Star, brought up on the Crow Reservation in Montana, is among the six artists showcasing their work in Beyond Granite. This initiative’s pioneering installation will be available for public viewing starting Friday. Notably, it marks the first of its kind in the annals of the National Mall’s outdoor exhibitions.

Red Star’s piece, named The Soil You See…, is displayed in Constitution Gardens, adjacent to the renowned Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Through her work, she highlights the diplomatic ties between her tribe and the U.S. government. An illustration of The Soil You See… reveals a distinctive monument adorned with a red-hued human fingerprint. Inscribed on the artwork are the names of the Crow chiefs who inked treaties with the U.S. authorities, an agreement tracing its origins to 1825.

In proximity to Red Star’s piece, one can also find the Memorial to the 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence, situated within Constitution Gardens. This foundational U.S. text infamously refers to Native Americans as “merciless Indian Savages.”

“So it’s a red thumbprint,” Red Star says in a artist preview for the inaugural installation. “Immediately people will be drawn to it just for that.”

“And then to have them encounter the work and get to read the names of chiefs from my community who have signed treaties from 1825 to 1880 — and they’re so different than the names that you see on the Declaration of Independence,” Red Star continues.

Through Red Star’s involvement in the premiere exhibition, Beyond Granite: Pulling Together, the organizers are eager to elicit reactions to the pivotal question: “What stories remain untold on the National Mall?”

“I hope Beyond Granite: Pulling Together sparks important, and sometimes hard conversations in living rooms, classrooms, sidewalks, and beyond, about our collective experience and history as Americans,” remarked Teresa Durkin, the executive vice president of the Trust for the National Mall, in a press release.

Durkin added, “These new installations are opening the doors to a deeper and more meaningful dialogue about what stories we should pass on to the next generation.”

Beyond Granite is a culmination of the enduring collaboration between the Trust for the National Mall, the premier nonprofit and impartial philanthropic ally of the National Park Service (NPS), a federal institution, and the National Capital Planning Commission, another federal agency.

For the first time ever in U.S. history, the NPS is helmed by a Native individual. Charles F. “Chuck” Sams III, hailing from the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, holds the position of director.

Furthermore, the NPS operates under the Department of the Interior, presided over by Secretary Deb Haaland. As a member of the Pueblo of Laguna, she has the distinction of being the first Native individual in a presidential cabinet.

Post the inauguration of Beyond Granite: Pulling Together on Friday, Red Star is slated to be a key speaker in a public discourse scheduled for August 25. This event, christened “Indigenous Archives Conversation,” will be held at the United States Institute of Peace Headquarters and will spotlight Dr. Elizabeth Rule, a renowned author and a representative of the Chickasaw Nation.

The showcase will be accessible until September 18 and has received financial backing from the Mellon Foundation.