Prayers for Redress

A 3-Channel Video installation that explores the often-overlooked symbolic and ideological elements of ex-votos, which are small, miracle-depicting devotional paintings usually crafted on tin or other found materials. The three-channel animated installation recreates traditional “ex-voto” paintings documenting the disturbing practice of Indian residential schools implemented by the U.S. Government and the Catholic Church in the United States and Canada. “Prayer for Remembrance” reflects the culturally traumatic experience of the shearing of Native children’s hair, the first act of cultural violence instituted on children upon their arrival. “Prayer for Redress” points to the appalling sexual abuse of Native children with the drawing of a priest based on the story of Father Albert Chamberland, who has been accused of fathering children with Native girls. “Prayer for Retribution” documents a “den of weapons” used by priests and nuns to beat and punish children for speaking Native languages or acting out.

My methodology for this project was to consult the May 2022 “Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Investigative Report” by the U.S. Department of the Interior, which marked the country’s first in-depth look into the Federal Indian boarding school system. The report confirms that the U.S. specifically targeted Indian and Native Hawaiian children, aligning with broader policies of territorial dispossession. It reveals that between 1819 and 1969, the U.S. operated or backed 408 boarding schools across 37 states and territories, including 21 in Alaska and 7 in Hawaii, where thousands of Native children were removed from their homes and subjected to forced assimilation and ongoing abuse. Some of the details include the sexual abuse of Indigenous children in boarding schools, systemic beatings, forced labor, high suicide rates, and trauma leading to severe depression and PTSD for Indigenous peoples and their descendants. I consulted with the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition (NABS), which holds at its core that the work towards truth and healing must begin with shining light on what happened to Indigenous communities at Indian boarding schools. Consulting these histories was also a painful reminder that my Chumash ancestors had been held captive at the Mission Santa Barbara during the Spanish occupation of California, experiencing similar trauma and dispossession.

Crystal González assisted with the animation assets, while Chisa Hughes helped with the soundscape.