Captives

While I was researching Plains Indian ledger drawings, I came across one that I found especially touching. It was a row of ten Indians, their backs to the viewer, dressed in ceremonial garb with their arms around one another. I knew instantly that I wanted to use this drawing in my piece for Re-Riding History. Technically, this drawing comes from a Plains tribe (Sioux) that was not represented among the 72 warriors who were incarcerated at Fort Marion, but the Sioux were involved in the Plains Wars during that same time period. In addition, between 1879 and 1918 over 1,000 Sioux students passed through the Carlisle Indian School, the school which Lt. Richard Pratt founded and ran after he developed his Indian assimilation methods at Fort Marion. Thus, the inclusion of these figures seems entirely appropriate.

These figures were executed with pencil and colored pencil, as most ledger drawings were made.