Marie Watt (Seneca Nation of Indians), Antipodes, 2020, vintage Italian beads, industrial felt, and thread, 64" (overall). National Gallery of Art, Washington. Gift of Funds from Sharon Percy Rockefeller and Senator John Davison Rockefeller IV. 2022.32.1. Image courtesy the artist. Photograph by Kevin McConnell.
A two-part beaded work by Marie Watt, titled Antipodes, has been acquired by the National Gallery of Art. The 2020 sculpture “addresses the temporal, material, linguistic, and spatial constructs of distance in Indigenous culture,” the museum notes. Watt’s artistic practice is inspired by a variety of elements within her Indigenous culture, including Native histories and belief systems. In this way, Watt explores the connections between past, present and future within these communities.
Antipodes features two beaded wall hangings made up of pre-1920s Venetian glass beads, hand-sewn by Watt, a nod to the geometric patterns featured in traditional Native American cultural objects. Each wall hanging depicts a single word: “Skywalker” and “Skyscraper.”
The National Gallery of Art notes that “‘Skywalker,’ on the upper left element, honors the Kahnawake Mohawk ironworkers who labored at great heights to build New York City’s bridges and skyscrapers in the late 19th and early 20th century. It also refers to the character Luke Skywalker from the Star Wars movie franchise, bringing the work into the contemporary realm. ‘Skyscraper,’ on the lower right element, refers to the towering structure in the Native ironworkers’ story and the means of their separation from the ground, which brought them to celestial and legendary heights.”
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