Ledger Art
In the early history of contact a very unique and powerful medium of art emerged.
Survivors of genocide were placed on plots of land, forbidden to hunt, practice culture, or leave the area lest they be shot. They were given food rations and their children were taken. Those who survived the genocide were considered broken by the process of colonization.
Expected to die out they were given only minimal attention. Each tribe was presented a ledger to record finances in an attempt to civilize what was left of them. No finances were recorded. Those in possession of the ledgers used them draw. They drew the world around them, as they saw it, not as they were told to see it. The simple refusal to use the ledger for it's intended purpose, but to reinvent and see it's purpose differently, has made Ledger Art a powerful and awe inspiring representation of a people who could not be broken.
I am deeply proud and humbled by the existence of Ledger Art. By the unspoken power of spirit that lives in each simple drawing.
Survivors of genocide were placed on plots of land, forbidden to hunt, practice culture, or leave the area lest they be shot. They were given food rations and their children were taken. Those who survived the genocide were considered broken by the process of colonization.
Expected to die out they were given only minimal attention. Each tribe was presented a ledger to record finances in an attempt to civilize what was left of them. No finances were recorded. Those in possession of the ledgers used them draw. They drew the world around them, as they saw it, not as they were told to see it. The simple refusal to use the ledger for it's intended purpose, but to reinvent and see it's purpose differently, has made Ledger Art a powerful and awe inspiring representation of a people who could not be broken.
I am deeply proud and humbled by the existence of Ledger Art. By the unspoken power of spirit that lives in each simple drawing.