Settlement is a Native American-led performative encampment in which 29 acclaimed Indigenous artists from across North America will activate Pounds House and surrounding grounds in Plymouth’s Central Park from 6 July to 2 August, 2020.
With practices ranging from performance, social engagement, installation, film, poetry, dance and immersive theatre, the wide range of contemporary Native American artists that will share their work for Settlement is unprecedented.
Daily programming will present a series of workshops, performances, installations and talks, creating a radically immersive onsite experience. In addition to the Central Park encampment, each Settlement artist will produce a public engagement elsewhere in the city of Plymouth.
Within the context of Mayflower 400, Settlement is more than an arts festival, it is a necessary space for Native American artists to investigate and interpret their lives as the survivors of settler colonialism and, in turn, to support settler ancestors in moving towards a more relational understanding and acknowledgement of the contemporary Native American experience.
To open the Settlement project onsite at Pounds House in Plymouth, members of the Wampanoag nation will produce a day of programming. The Sunday prologue will focus on the sharing the story of the Wampanoag, also known as the People of the First Light.
Leading the programme, artist Cannupa Hanska Luger will travel to Plymouth to work alongside the artists taking up residence in Central Park to support the creation of their art.
He will enable the local community to gain a deeper understanding of the complex living Indigenous cultures that have survived settler colonisation and facilitate weekly public dialogues about Settlement’s ethos and durational performances as witness; holding space for the participating artists work as it is produced onsite.
Cannupa Hanska Luger. Picture by Brendan George Ko
Settlement is supported by Arts Council England through National Lottery Project Grants and the Department of Culture, Media and Sport through the Cultural Development Fund.
The Conscious Sisters CIC is a socially-engaged arts company based in Plymouth, which produces unique art projects working with and for the community.
Fiona and Karen Evans, of The Conscious Sisters CIC, said: “Telling the story of the decimation of North American indigenous culture is central to this commemoration – Mayflower 400. Settlement has provided a unique opportunity to attempt to decolonise our practice and use our privilege to develop work that is authentic and timely.”
Art and Sculpture
Film and Digital Art
Music and Performance
Artisan Crafts
Elisa Lorraine Harkins performing Wampum
Read more here:
http://www.cannupahanska.com/settlement
https://www.mayflower400uk.org/events/2020/july-2020/settlement/