The artists in this exhibition, which ran April 12–August 24, 2014 at Laumeier Sculpture Park in St. Louis, explored traces of native culture in our contemporary world with topics ranging from disappearance and destruction to resurrection and monument. Mound City is St.Louis’ appellation in honor of the Mound culture that existed in the Southeast region of the U.S. one thousand years ago. Cahokia, adjacent to East St. Louis on the Illinois border, is where the bulk of the remaining mounds from this early American civilization are found. This ancient city was the largest north of Mexico City, and like Hohokam in the southwest, the Mound builders dispersed (or disappeared) around 1400 C.E. As a curatorial assistant for this exhibition, I researched Cahokia and mound culture in the region, identified and liaised with potential artists, and wrote an exhibition catalog entry that detailed the museum history of contemporary art exhibitions devoted to indigenous artists and culture.

View the exhibition archive at Laumeier Sculpture Park