Honoring Shellmounds: Artistic Collaboration with the Ohlone Community

How can public art honor local indigenous communities and teach us about Native history, culture, and practices? In this virtual event, Berkeley-based sculptor Masayuki Nagase shares the process behind the creation of his environmental artwork Water Is Life—We Are Still Here for the site of an Ohlone Shellmound in Richmond, California. After being selected for the project, Nagase contacted Corrina Gould, tribal chair of the Confederated Villages of Lisjan and co-founder and co-director of the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust, and worked closely with her and the local Ohlone community on the design. Nagase and Gould will talk about their collaboration as well as efforts underway to protect other Shellmounds, sacred Ohlone burial sites that are found all over the Bay Area.