PUBLIC ART

THE CONTINUUM OF TIME – LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT MURAL

California State University Northridge & Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians

2024

There is a weave that connects across time. Within this weave, the past intersects the present and impacts the future. In “The Continuum of Time” mural, a timeline of the Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians is woven by the rivers and streams that flow through their ancestral and unceded homelands of the San Fernando, Simi, Santa Clarita, and Antelope valleys.

The left of the mural represents the past. The spirit of their ancestors is carried by a golden eagle flying in front of the San Gabriel Mountain Range, whose feathers unite with burning sage to invoke ceremony by Fernandeño elders. Below the blessing of the eagle sit three women at work processing acorns, with a traditional ki’j in the background. Wihuc, (acorns) are a staple food, and the women are seen cracking shells open, grinding and leeching acorn meal, and boiling the acorn mush with hot stones. This process has connected the Fernandeños to syutka (oak trees), their homeland, and their ancestors throughout time. Below the traditional village sits Mission San Fernando, Achoicominga, which represents the challenging history of enslavement, torture and conversion of local Native people at the mission during the Spanish era and the breaking of land treaties written during the Mexican era and dissolved in the American era – promises broken, lives lost in genocide, and land taken. White sage, an important ceremonial plant to the Fernandeños, wraps around this scene, offering healing and justice.

The hands of the ancestors reach across the orit, the Los Angeles River towards the future, gifting knowledge to new generations and propelling the continuum of time forward. Vasquez Rocks, site of the village Mapipinga, towers over gourd rattles held in the hands of Tribal Citizens keeping rhythm as they sing ceremonial songs. The California grizzly bear, a symbol of Tribal leadership and an extinct species, balances the eagle on its opposite. Young Fernandeño Tataviam Tribal Citizens gaze ahead with strong vision in front of a village just south of our campus called Siutcanga (Los Encinos State Historic Park), from which 70% of the Tribe descends. Strategic tribal partnerships with communities, organizations and municipalities have led to positive outcomes, such as land return to practice ceremony and Traditional Ecological Knowledge. Below the young people are two more native plants of importance: nàvot (prickly pear cactus) and umuucc asüü (yucca), which have been utilized for millennia.

The weave of time reveals a healthy and flowing Los Angeles River and the grand valley oak tree bearing witness to all throughout time. Just as the light of the sun shines through the branches of the oak, so will the sun continue to rise for the “People Facing the Sun”. From time immemorial to present and future, Fernandeño Tataviam people are here, celebrating their culture, land, and ways of life through hope, resilience, strength and harmony with the natural environment of Northern Los Angeles county.

Mural created by Lindsay Carron in conjunction with FTBMI Tribal Leadership

Assisted by MA and MFA students Harmony Vasquez and Audrey Higa

Supported by CSUN Foundation on behalf of the CSUN University Library

KIGIQTAK – MURAL FOR SHISHMAREF SCHOOL ATRIUM

2021

When I arrived in Shishmaref, an Iñupiaq village on Sarichef Island in the Chukchi Sea, north of Nome and south of Kotzebue on the west coast of Alaska, many families had boated to mainland to hunt caribou and pick berries from the rolling tundra. Kids had just begun the school year in their new school building housing kindergarten through high school. The mural went up on the atrium walls of the grade school wing, and each school day the kids greeted me up on the lift with enthusiasm. I enjoyed racing them down the sandy roads of Shishmaref when on break from painting. Teachers, workers and family members stopped to visit and some shared stories and feedback. At 4am on an all night painting stint, I stepped outside for some fresh air to find the village buzzing with teenage energy. A couple girls stopped to chat with me and told me this was their chill time together – walking down the beach in the dark, the cold wet air infusing their skin, but warmth and laughter emerging from their togetherness. The bonds of family, friends and community was evident, especially given that Shishmaref is located on an island of only 4.3 miles of sand that, due to reduction in sea ice buffer, is eroding at a rate of 10 feet a year. In 2002 and again in 2016 Shishmaref voted to relocate to a site on mainland. The community awaits the funding to do so. In the meantime, a new school serves a growing number of children, and the strong and wise people continue to live in tandem with the often harsh environment around them. This mural celebrates Iñupiaq care for community, culture and subsistence and the animals that support their livelihoods. Thank you Bering Strait School District for having me and local artist Shane Walter Nayokpuk for assisting me in this mural.

ART PRINTER MURAL, CULVER CITY

2021

BALLONA CREEK BIKE PATH STORM DRAIN MURALS, CULVER CITY

CULVER CITY PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT

2020

BACKYARD TRANSFORMATION, LOS ANGELES

2020

ART PRINTER, LOS ANGELES

2018

“FOR THE ORCAS” THE WHALE MUSEUM, SAN JUAN ISLAND, WASHINGTON

2016

“MOTHERLAND” PRINT RENEGADES, LOS ANGELES

2014

Part of the Mandalas for Kenya project for In Relation, in collaboration with Ngene Mwaura

MALIBU STORM DRAIN PROJECT, MALIBU

2014

http://keepitcleanmalibu.com

Funded by grant money from the City of Malibu. Calling attention to protecting our fragile ocean shore ecosystems!

My love for place is fueled by purpose. One of the best ways I can give back to a community, no matter where in the world it’s located, is through painting one of its walls.

“TARA” GODA YOGA STUDIO, CULVER CITY

2014