Dreamlines & Dirt scars was a residency-based exhibition in Oakland, Ca. I explored the history of a distant ancestor, "Jack" Coffee Hays, a surveyor and among the first U.S. occupiers of Huchiun, present-day Oakland. His maps are blueprints from the origin story of today's society, filled as it is with oppression, displacement, borders, and systemic white supremacy—where capital and property are valued above human life and the health of the land. Visitors to the gallery were asked to: ". . . consider the interwoven histories that have brought you onto this Lisjan Ohlone land known as Huchiun—consider your relationship with this land—and I invite you to imagine the futures possible here. Imagine the future generations of Lisjan Ohlone here. Imagine tomorrow, imagine next year, imagine your children's grandchildren and Ohlone great-grandchildren walking these streets and hills and shorelines. What do you dream for the future of this land? What do you demand for the future of this city?"

On the final day of the residency, over 90 responses filled the windows.

 

2021