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Sean Linezo’s exhibition, Bring Me the Head of Osceola // There is More to Remember, interrogates the historical narratives of Osceola’s death and explores representations of the famous Seminole leader in visual and popular culture. The exhibition is part of a larger initiative by the artist to make space for the representation of Native Americans in Florida history. This fall Linezo will present a series of events and pursue a site-specific monument project to amplify Native American voices in advance of the 200th anniversary of Florida becoming a United States territory.
The exhibition will be on view in our Stairwell Gallery until December 6, 2020. |
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Looking back seven generations into my own ancestry, I received a clue in a mystery of lost memories… Bring Me The Head Of Osceola illustrates my investigations and discoveries.
From old motel matchbooks and illustrated children's books to Walt Whitman plagiarizing from the diary of Dr. Weedon. The legendary story of the honorable death of Osceola, has a paper trail that can be verified by the “official Archive". Every story found in popular culture and academic history is validated by a single diary entry by Dr. Frederick Weedon, who conveniently left out the fact that he cut off and stole the head of Osceola, a fact that is also validated and verified by the Archive. The US government took it even further and also ordered that Osceola be stripped of all regalia, so he was actually buried as a naked headless corpse… another unsettling fact that is verified and validated by the “official Archive”.
An even more illuminating discovery that puts the desecration and decapitation into context, was a piece of the story that was missing from the “official Archive”, the Seminole Tribal History. For hundreds of years the Elders have passed down stories through generations. This oral tradition was practiced before and during the time of Osceola and has continued to be repeated up to today. There Is More To Remember introduces the audience to a “messenger” in time, passing along the story as it has been told to him. Bobby Henry, an elder of the Seminole Tribe of Florida, describes a different series of events that is still honorable but also more realistic than the over-dramatic scene as described by Weedon in his diary. Instead, Bobby Henry describes the negotiations, the refusal to sign and the two gunshots at point blank range. Henry explains, “the head and the heart, that's what we go by”.
- AnArchivist, Sean Linezo
UPCOMING VIRTUAL EVENTS
MORE EVENTS TO COME
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VIRTUAL OPENING AND FILM SCREENING
October 7 @ 7:00 PM – 8:20 PM SH4RE // 309 Punk Project present: Virtual Opening for PMA Exhibition and Premiere Screening of STATUES ALSO DIE (2020). Visit SH4RE's website for more information and to RSVP to the event: https://www.schoolhouse4.org/event-details/virtual-opening-and-film-screening What Are We Celebrating?
October 7 @ 9:00 AM – 10:30 AM EDUCATIONAL WORKSHOP A discussion with Artist-in-Residence, Sean Linezo and Miss Florida Seminole, Dante Blais-Billie about the indigenous experience in the US educational system and the holidays we celebrate. Visit SH4RE's website for more information and to RSVP to the event: https://www.schoolhouse4.org/event-details/what-are-we-celebrating |
TRAILER FOR STATUES ALSO DIE (2020)
FEATURED IN INWEEKLY
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CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE
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