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Later this month, a sculpture by Marty Two Bulls, Jr. will be on view at the Arboretum. Presented in partnership with the Academy Art Museum, the work is part of Dominion, Two Bulls' immersive installation that critiques American consumerism through a layered retelling of the history of the Oglala Lakota tribe.
Using the metaphor of the bison, one of the first American resources consumed almost to extinction, Two Bulls charts a complex wasteland out of everyday materials: trash cans, glass bottles, barbed wire, and paper plates. The ghost-like bison emerges from this landscape, advancing a story of eradication and survival and ultimately persisting in its sacredness and abundance.
The artist invites visitors to delve deeper into the history of the bison as well as the Oglala Lakota through interactive QR codes found throughout the installation and to consider lessons from the past for our collective present. European settlers decimated bison populations in the mid- to late 1800s to deprive the Oglala Lakota of their livelihood, as the nomadic tribe would follow the migrating bison across the Great Plains to survive. Forced detachment from ancestral knowledge and ways of living was catastrophic for the Oglala Lakota and for other Indigenous peoples across America. In Dominion, Two Bulls offers both a lens to view and a mirror to reflect on the importance of conserving natural resources and striving toward a non-exploitative relationship with our environment.
Two Bulls' pieces on view at the Arboretum and the Town of Easton Welcome Center will expand on the main Dominion exhibition at the Academy Art Museum. Dominion will be on view through September 1, 2024. Visit academyartmuseum.org for more information.
*The image used here is an example of Two Bulls' work and does not reflect the piece that will be on view at the Arboretum.
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