Shelby Head
Providence, RI
My interdisciplinary practice investigates the social and linguistic constructs that shape identity, history, and collective memory in the United States.
Message
“Federal Indian law” is the body of United States law – treaties, statutes, executive orders, administrative decisions, and court cases – that define and exemplify the unique legal and political status of the over 550 federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native tribes. - NARF. (n.d.). The Purple Book. Retrieved January 28, 2021, from https://www.narf.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/purple.pdf
- Shelby Head
- 04_Structural Damage - Shelby Head
- Structural Damage, installation, 10 frames, wallpaper, steel piping, text of U.S. Federal Indian Laws, 150”x 76”x 20”, 2023
- 76 x 150 x 20 in
- Signature: “Federal Indian law” is the body of United States law – treaties, statutes, executive orders, administrative decisions, and court cases – that define and exemplify the unique legal and political status of the over 550 federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native tribes. NARF. (n.d.). The Purple Book. Retrieved January 28, 2021, from https://www.narf.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/purple.pdf
This interactive installation transforms fragments of Federal Indian law into a tactile archive. Mounted on exposed pipes, framed treaties and rulings hang unevenly, evoking fractured histories and contested sovereignty. Viewers are invited to “Touch & Turn,” disrupting legal fixity and revealing partial truths, broken promises, and lingering injustices. Shadows and shifting sightlines expose law as a constructed tool of control, while participation invites reflection on its enduring impact on Indigenous nations.
- Collections: An Infrastructure Of Silence, Beyond the Whitewash
Other Work From Shelby Head
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