Jen Coppoc is a
a Senior Lecturer of American Indian Studies and English at Iowa State University. For this contributing article, she shared her perspectives on the controversial sculpture Scaffold, which was erected for the reopening of the Walker Art Center's Sculpture Garden. We're thankful for her contribution and are eager to continue dialogue regarding the role and responsibility of the artist -- a subject we're no stranger to at University Museums.
It is December 26, 1862. Mankato, MN. The day after Christmas. There is snow on the ground but it is an otherwise crisp, clear winter day. Nearly 4,000 people have gathered to watch 38 Dakota men executed by hanging - what will become the largest mass execution in U.S. history. 1,500 soldiers surround the scaffold to keep the crowd from mobbing the prisoners and exacting their own ideas of punishment. Three drum beats, a single ax to cut a rope, and the scaffolding falls. 38 Dakota bodies dangle until a physician officially declares each man dead. The bodies are removed and buried in a mass grave on a sandy riverbank nearby. Later that night, the grave is reopened and 38 Dakota bodies are distributed among doctors. Cadavers are in high demand for anatomical study. Dead Indians are easy to come by.
It is May, 2017. Minneapolis, MN. Sam Durant's sculpture,
Scaffold, stands behind construction gates while the site is prepared for the reopening of The Walker Art Center's Sculpture Garden. Durant's
Scaffold is a replica of gallows used in historic U.S. government executions - including the Dakota 38. There is a sign written by a protester that hangs on the gates surrounding the construction site that reads: "Not your story." To me, that says it all.
To read the rest of Coppoc's contributing piece, click
here.
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