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Cherokee by Blood (Red Sky with Aphid Hemlocks), from the series Final Determinations

Cherokee by Blood (Red Sky with Aphid Hemlocks), from the series Final Determinations

Emily Arthur

Emily Arthur’s withering hemlocks, endangered by invasive insects, allude to larger circumstances threatening native environments. Embedded in the print are testimonies of Eastern Cherokee families who applied for tribal enrollment with the US Court of Claims between 1906 and 1910. Following arbitrary rules for what counted as valid Cherokee lineage, the government accepted only 30,820 of the more than 90,000 applicants who claimed eligibility. Arthur learned of these cases while researching her own Cherokee ancestry, and this work is a response to these often heart-wrenching stories of displacement and loss.
Artist/Maker
Emily Arthur
(American)
Title
Cherokee by Blood (Red Sky with Aphid Hemlocks), from the series Final Determinations
Date
2018
Material & Process
Screen print
Dimensions
50 x 38 1/4 in. overall
Credit
Ruth C. Wallerstein Endowment Fund purchase
Inventory No.
2020.41
Classification
Prints
Location
United States

Related

November 2020, sold by the artist, Emily Arthur (Madison, WI) to the Chazen Museum of Art

  • Mithlo, Nancy Marie. "Emily Arthur: Final Determinations: “Cherokee by Blood”." In "Visualizing Genocide: Indigenous Interventions in Art, Archives, and Museums." Edited by Yve Chavez and Nancy Marie Mithlo. Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 2022. 208, Fig. 9.5

  • Faculty Exhibition 2020: Chazen Museum of Art, 2/1/2020–7/31/2020

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