The Story of Land, Water, and People Exhibition

The Story of Land, Water, and People, will be the 6th exhibit showing at ‘Uba Seo: Nisenan Arts and Culture in downtown Nevada City. The Gallery and Culture space serves as a strong focal point for raising visibility and telling the stories of the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe. This exhibit is part of California Heritage: Indigenous Research Project (CHIRP)’s Visibility Through Art (VTA) initiative; by coordinating collaborations among artists and Tribal Culture bearers to increase public awareness and engage the public related to social justice, through the lens of environment-related issues including, land, water, and people. This exhibit is funded in part by the California Arts Council, a state agency, through the Upstate California Creative Corps program, administered by Nevada County Arts Council.

Visibility Through Art is a community art initiative produced annually as part of CHIRP’s Arts & Culture Program. Visibility Through Art is an intentional and informed collaboration between local artists and members of the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe. Each project year explores a theme or subject of importance to the Tribe, culminating in an annual exhibit. Art opens the way for meaningful conversations around topics that can reveal solutions that may otherwise remain unseen. The Nisenan people are working to revitalize their Culture and traditions after the intense erasure of colonization and the California gold rush. Many traditional lifeways and ecosystems were completely disrupted by exploitation and modernization. The once intimate, traditional, and intuitive connection and understanding of the land was forever altered. Current revitalization efforts for earth-based traditional Nisenan Culture are made nearly impossible by the compounded layers of deracination, historic and generational trauma caused by genocide, removal from sacred lands, the forced assimilation of Indian boarding schools, outlawing of traditional and religious practices, and the prohibition of Native Language and Culture. Through creative and artistic means, the Nisenan are gathering and re-weaving the remaining traditional Indigenous knowledge to process the complex layers of trauma, bring visibility to their stories, history, and Culture, and to envision a path forward in a forever-changed landscape.

‘Uba Seo: Nisenan Arts & Culture is a gallery and Culture space in downtown Nevada City. The gallery project falls under CHIRP’s Art & Culture Program and is another way to bring visibility to the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe while fulfilling CHIRP’s mission: to preserve, protect, and perpetuate Nisenan Culture. ‘Uba Seo is another step toward the restoration of the Tribe’s Federal Recognition. Since opening its doors in the Spring of 2021, ‘Uba Seo has created rich opportunities for visibility, advocacy, healing, and community education. This unprecedented social space is curated through the perspectives and voices of the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe.

WHY AN ART EXHIBITION

This art event was created to engage our community in conversation about this land and the Nisenan People. It also serves to raise the Tribe’s visibility. Shelly Covert, who is the Nevada City Rancheria Tribal Council Spokesperson and the Executive Director of CHIRP stated, “The goal is to create conscientious art pieces that inspire dialogue about Nisenan history and culture. We were looking for a way to tell our collective story and this seems to be working. Art is an incredible platform to engage in difficult dialogue. And collaborating with local artists has not only been a pleasure, but it is helping us achieve our goals. Our deepest hope is to bring about awareness of local historic and current issues through the medium of art.” The one-of-a-kind pieces created annually during this project have become the main body of CHIRP’s expanding art collection.

Participating Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribal Member Artists: Shelly Covert, Ginger Covert, Lorena Davis, Sarah Thomas, Cindy Buero, Debra McBrien, Saxon Thomas,  Native | Nisenan Special Guest Artists: Tiffany Adams and Deerstine Madrone Suehead Participating Artists: Nikila Badua, Maile Claire, Mira Clark, Jan Michelle Sawyer, Ruth Chase.

WHO ARE THE NISENAN AND WHAT IS CHIRP

The Nisenan are the Indigenous People who were here thousands of years before the California gold rush. Despite the destruction of their homelands, broken treaties, and forced assimilation, they remain here in their homelands today and strive to have their identity reflected in the fabric of the community. President Woodrow Wilson signed an Executive Order in 1913 that created a Reservation on Cement Hill and gave Federal Recognition to the Tribe. In 1964 the Nevada City Rancheria was one of forty-four California Rancherias wrongfully “terminated” by US Congress and today is one of three California Rancherias awaiting restoration. True and correct knowledge of the Nisenan and their ancient existence on this land, up until very recently, had been fully erased from history and the Tribe was nearly forgotten. The need for visibility as the Tribe fights to have their Federal Recognition and sovereignty restored has begun to turn the tide of historic amnesia. Up until very recently, most of that education and change has had to be shouldered by the Tribe itself. Thus, the California Heritage: Indigenous Research Project, aka CHIRP, was created to assist the Tribe in areas of Federal Recognition, Education, Art, Cultural Resource Protection, Land Back, Community Education and Communications, Media, Fundraising, and more. CHIRP’s mission serves the needs of the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe, guides and informs Right Relations with Indigenous communities, and stabilizes Nisenan Culture and community, all while bringing education and connection to the public through its charitable purposes. CHIRP’s 501(c)(3) status brings opportunities that as a terminated Tribe, the Nevada City Rancheria does not have.