Habitation

'Habitation' - I recently read an article about how when colonizers first came to America they looked around and saw empty wilderness. They conceived & presumed the landscapes they saw to be raw & untouched. Obviously it itched for their mark & molding. This initial misperception is undoubtedly an aspect of what compelled them to act with such a brazen sense of entitlement. The native people that lived on this continent experienced the land as stewards and as extensions of themselves. The subtlety of their relationship and effects on the land was invisible to the colonizers who could be said to have not cultivated a finer sense. That the people who came in called the people here 'uncivilized' & 'savage' before proceeding to commit genocide & ultimately poison all the land - well, it feels like some kind of long, sad cosmic joke that I don't quite get the punchline to.
This painting is 100% imaginary and unplanned.9" x 12" oil on yupo paper -