“I Own This Stolen Land,” Ben Altman’s solo exhibition at the ArtRage Gallery, is both complex and concrete as it reflects on land from varied perspectives and asks fundamental questions: Who owns land? Is it possible to build a relationship with people dispossessed from their homelands? What are the pressures impacting land not just in coastal cities but in rural areas?
The show focuses intently on a 38-acre tract in rural Tompkins County, in the town of Danby. That land, which is right next to Altman’s home, is roughly half forests and half hayfields. He and his wife, Cynthia Bowman, bought the property in 2021 so it wouldn’t be purchased for development and logging.
As Altman explored the land, he thought about the fact that it was once part of the territory of the Gayogohó:nǫˀ (Cayuga) people, one of the Six Nations of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. In his artist’s statement, Altman says that the Gayogohó:nǫˀ in the Colonial period “endured through pandemics, frequent wars and predatory fur and alcohol training, but were drive into exile by the murderous 1779 Sullivan Expedition and subsequent fraudulent treaties.”
Altman, an artist whose work during the past 15 years has concentrated on violent turning points of modern history, began working on a project that would deal with those concerns, with the notion that he and his wife are involved in perpetuating a historic injustice. That project is multidisciplinary, utilizing photographs, video, text sculptures incorporating large-size letters, and social practice.
The text sculptures, which were installed on the land, draw on the exhibit’s title and related words such as “this wounded land” and “this sacred land.” These texts are carved onto rocks and dead trees, hung on wires, and shaped and formed on grass fields. In one sense, Altman is using the land as a canvas. For some of the texts, Altman recycled fencing found on site.
Viewers at ArtRage will see photos fully documenting the sculptures. In one instance, there’s an image of a large sign with the words “I Own This.” In another, the word “Sacred” is on a field covered with snow; Altman has photographed the sculptures during all seasons. In a third, titled “I Own This Wounded Land,” there’s a tree in which barbed wire is embedded. Altman didn’t insert the wire into the tree – it’s a remnant of failed settler agriculture – but he did create a powerful image that’s both tactile and poignant.
It’s worth noting that the frames for the photos displayed in the current show came from a dead ash tree, killed by the invasive Emerald Ash Borer beetle, that Altman harvested on the site. Some of the frames show the tracks left by the beetle’s larvae.
Beyond that, Altman, in his artist’s statement, emphasizes that acknowledgment of an injustice is pointless unless it’s followed by some form of action. He has joined a local non-profit group, the Gayogohó:nǫˀ Learning Project and invited Indigenous people to use the land. For two springs, Gayogohó:nǫˀ and other Haudenosaunee people have tapped trees, extracting maple sugar and syrup through traditional methods.
In addition, video segments document three Haudenosaunee poets reading their work: Monty Campbell Jr., Kahsenniyo Kick and Kenzie Allen. All three are veteran poets.
There are plans to host such performances in the future and to safeguard the land’s future. Altman says that he and his wife are filing paperwork with the town of Danby to establish a conservation easement that would guarantee access of Gayogohó:nǫˀ people to the land.
And Altman wants to encourage discussion of both the 38 acres and land in general. He plans to do interviews with foresters, loggers, botanists, farmers and others. Some of the interviews are already done but not curated.
Among other things, he’s concerned about pressures on land including economic factors and environmental stresses.
He also will be pursuing future showings of the exhibition “I Own This Stolen Land.” A few pieces from the show were displayed at Wells College before that institution closed, but ArtRage is the first venue to exhibit the full-length version. During January 2025, the exhibition will be presented at the Community Arts Partnership’s ArtSpace gallery in Ithaca.
Finally, “I own This Stolen Land” is definitely not the first project on which Altman has worked close to home. For “The More That Is Taken Away,” he built a mass-grave-like excavation behind his home. That exhibit offered a meditation on mass violence and what it means to inherit such histories.
“I Own This Stolen Land” is on display through July 20 at ArtRage, 505 Hawley Ave. in Syracuse. The gallery is open from 2 to 6 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and from noon to 4 p.m. on Saturdays. The venue is open to the public, and there’s no admission charge.
For more information, call 315-218-5711, or access www.artgallery.org.
Carl Mellor covered visual arts for the Syracuse New Times from 1994 through 2019. He continues to write about exhibitions and artists in the Syracuse area.