Wolf Nation
by
Alan Michelson
An evocative short film,
Wolf Nation
, is currently playing in New York at the Whitney Museum.
The artist Alan Michelson has created a unique almost timeless piece from webcam footage of twenty red wolves in the Hudson Valley of New York. It is a meditation on the threat and survival of one of the most critically endangered species in the country, currently living in the Wolf Conservation Center, a sanctuary in New York State.
Wolf Nation
links the possible eradication of the wolves with that of the Munsees, the Lenape people known as the Wolf tribe, whose lands include portions of New York State.
The film is presented in wide format, in purple and white colors reflecting Native wampum beads of the indigenous people of the American Northeast.
Michelson, a Mohawk, has used the symbolic shape and color of the wampum belt in his film to reinforce the importance and symbolism of the wampum belt itself. The belt, used to finalize treaties and commemorate significant understandings, reflects the authority of the speaker or the message. A message not accompanied by wampum was considered false or trivial.
The film features a haunting soundtrack by White Mountain Apache musician and composer Laura Ortman.
The centerpiece of Michelson’s vision is what he calls a “relational approach to the land” and he makes a critical point in demonstrating that “interconnectedness of all life is sacred and key to human freedom and survival.”
