• Above: Full Image.

“this canvas is the cover of the tipi, my home, once built; now a remnant of reminisce cloths torn and worn by my people, worn and degraded by the nails that built yours; the red thread a life line of blood that flows into our children’s children cut, stripped, and torn, but our marks stood the test of time and our stories told”.

The title became a poem, the poem became a story, and the piece became a narrative. Struggling with self identity, Tiffany fought for this piece. The story of the culture influenced canvas with many symbols has turned from the recounting of the process to the narrative itself. Having started with a bad can of red paint, Tiffany recalled how the red paint felt sticky on her hands, much like a bloody battle would with all the fighting between the Natives and the Whites in the past. She then painted the canvas black, much like covering up the past or the battle marked history of the United States between these two people. Black, also the color of death or shadows or night. 

Initially, she didn't know where to go from there, so Tiffany was stalled for a few days with materials and overwhelming amounts of stagnant ideas in mind. Eventually, the two 'raw' marked pages you see before you feel onto the floor, onto the canvas coincidentally, and gave her the idea to tell of the story of mark making and the Natives (Word of Professor Bockelman in Quote). The two sheets standing for Natives themselves, one centered, and one on the right side; one without feathers, one with (cut strips of canvas in the upper left corner of the right side paper, as if a headdress); one without a bone plate, one with (nails as); one without "natural" colors on tassels, one with (strips of cloth below paper on right side) also depict marks but through status. 

As for the left hand side of the canvas entirely, the strips of cloth also stand for Natives; however, fallen Natives. The colors are also mostly earthy colors, colors the Natives used. These strips are both weaved and have nails on either side of the tops of them. Notice the red string coming from each of them and on the papers. These strings stand for the blood shed as well, and for the history of bloodlines.

For the reason behind a canvas, canvas material was close to that of what some of the homes of the Natives were made of. 

"To make a whole, to make and tell of the narrative more than symbolism has to be involved, you have to research deeper into a person, a people, a culture."

"I used canvas to tie all these symbols together, but also to represent how some Natives also did mark making on the walls of their homes by painting on them."

Finally, to put it all together, Tiffany couldn't stay silent; and, so, she crafted a poem, the title of the work from the voice perspective of a Native.