Taking inspiration from childhood games of “playing store,” NEXUS is staged as a trading space that you can step into, making room for imaginative play while also learning about inter-tribal relationships. The artwork references the exchange of goods, people, and cultural interactions along established pre-colonial trade routes connecting the extended Pacific Northwest and Plateau tribal regions.
The structural elements of the piece depict par fleche packages stacked as a table with a hide spread with goods displayed on top. Trade items include antler tools, obsidian, animal oil, copper, and dentalium. The artwork sits on a map etched into the cement pad depicting pre-contact trade routes. Framing the piece, towering cedar planks reference the structure of the place of many fires, where inter tribal trade would have taken place.

Commissioned by the City of Tacoma with support from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Prairie Line Trail, Tacoma, WA