Alison Saar's studio practice
and her public art practice have mostly involved
representing unsung heroes and heroines from
history, people for whom race or gender have
created a scenario where they've been forgotten
or their contributions have been deemed meaningless.
The sculpture is pretty interesting
because she chose a very specific moment in
the Corps of Discovery's journey, where York
was considered an equal - he is carrying
a rifle, which he was given as an equal member
of the party - but it's also at a time when
their military-issue dress is starting to
wear away. So he's shirtless, wearing worn,
military-issue pants but wearing moccasins
that they had to make to replace their shoes.
So it's at a time in the journey, theoretically,
where York was a very, very important part
of the Corps of Discovery, as a person that
voted to stay on the West Coast through the
winter, as a person that was responsible for
helping to feed the other members of the Corps
of Discovery through his hunting prowess.
So, he was very much an equal member of the party
during the Corps of Discovery period, but
then once they returned to the East, of course,
he was returned to slave status.
It became clear that Alison was somebody
that could take a person from history and
bring that person's contributions to life,
in a very visual way. And that, I think, was
the thing that piqued our attention most acutely
in looking at Alison's work. We really had
a very high level of confidence that Alison's
idea would evoke York as a man, and maybe
strip away some of the myth, but also bring
into focus his contributions. In a way, it
fleshes out the sense of history that Lewis
& Clark brings to the campus. It's a lasting
legacy. It's a cast-bronze sculpture. It will
be here for generations to come.
