Not on view
Date
2012
Classification
Sculpture
Medium
Reclaimed wool blankets and steel
Dimensions
Overall: 96 × 20 × 22in. (243.8 × 50.8 × 55.9 cm)
Accession number
2020.42a-b
Credit line
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase, with funds from the Painting and Sculpture Committee
Rights and reproductions
© Marie Watt
Audio
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Marie Watt, Skywalker/Skyscraper (Axis Mundi), 2012
In Making Knowing: Craft in Art, 1950–2019 (Spanish)
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Marie Watt, Skywalker/Skyscraper (Axis Mundi), 2012
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Marie Watt: Trabajo con mantas recicladas que he rescatado de tiendas de segunda mano, y me interesa trabajar con mantas ya que, en mi tribu y en otras comunidades indígenas, solemos regalar mantas para honrar a algunas personas por ser testigos de acontecimientos importantes de la vida.
Soy ciudadana de la nación seneca, y nuestra comunidad está ubicada a 40 minutos hacia el oeste de Buffalo. Cuando me mudé de Portland y fui a vivir a Brooklyn, Nueva York, me puse a pensar mucho en los iroqueses y en la presencia indígena en Nueva York.
Narrador: Las vigas de la mayoría de los rascacielos de Nueva York fueron construidas por herreros iroqueses, conocidos como skywalkers (caminantes del cielo).
Marie Watt: Me encanta la asociación que se crea al decir que los herreros iroqueses, es decir, miembros de mi extensa familia, son caminantes del cielo, y me gusta también la idea de Skywalker en referencia a la Guerra de las Galaxias. Me interesa la palabra Skywalker porque hace referencia a un espacio que parece de otro mundo, mítico y mágico. Incluso espiritual. Y me gusta que ese sea el lugar que ocupan los Caminantes del cielo y los rascacielos. Es un espacio que puede ser sagrado, y es un espacio que nos conecta. Y cuando digo que nos conecta, pienso en los seres humanos, que estamos ubicados en diferentes partes del planeta, y aun así este espacio para Caminantes del cielo y para los rascacielos realmente es un espacio que quizás todos nosotros admiramos. Sabes, lo ocupan la luna, las estrellas, los planetas, los aviones y las armas. Por eso es un espacio que me hace pensar.
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Marie Watt, Skywalker/Skyscraper (Axis Mundi), 2012
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Marie Watt: I work with reclaimed blankets that I scavenged from thrift stores. I was interested in working with blankets because in my tribe and in other Indigenous communities, we often give blankets away to honor people for being witness to important life events.
I'm a citizen of the Seneca nation and our community is located just west of Buffalo, by about forty minutes. When I moved from Portland to Brooklyn, New York, we exchanged the conifers and totem poles of the Pacific Northwest for scaffolding and skyscrapers. And it got me thinking a lot about the Iroquois and Indigenous presence in New York.
Narrator: Most of New York’s skyscrapers have been built by Iroquois ironworkers, known as skywalkers.
Marie Watt: I love the the association between a Skywalker being an Iroquois ironworker—an extended member of my family—and relating to Star Wars. I'm interested in Skywalker as a word that refers to this space that seems otherworldly, and mythic, and magical. Even spiritual. I think that is the space that Skywalkers and skyscrapers occupy. And it's a space that we all are familiar with. And it’s a space that can be sacred, a space that connects us. And when I say connects us, I think of humans, being located at different places around the planet, and yet this Skywalker/Skyscraper space is actually a space that we perhaps look up to. You know, it's occupied by the moon, and stars, and planets, and planes, and weapons. So, it's a space that makes me think.
Installation photography
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Installation view of Making Knowing: Craft in Art, 1950–2019 (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, November 22, 2019–January 2021). From left to right: Jeffrey Gibson, BIRDS OF A FEATHER, 2017; Nick Cave, Sound Suit #20, 2005; Marie Watt, Skywalker/Skyscraper (Axis Mundi), 2012; Jordan Nassar, A Lost Key, 2019; Shan Goshorn, Roll Call, 2016; Shan Goshorn, Red Flag, 2015. Photograph by Ron Amstutz
From the exhibition Making Knowing: Craft in Art, 1950–2019
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Installation view of Making Knowing: Craft in Art, 1950–2019 (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, November 22, 2019–January 2021). From left to right: Kahlil Robert Irving, 100’s, 2018; Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Portals, 2016; Marie Watt, Skywalker/Skyscraper (Axis Mundi), 2012; Simone Leigh, Cupboard VIII, 2018. Photograph by Ron Amstutz
From the exhibition Making Knowing: Craft in Art, 1950–2019
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Installation view of Making Knowing: Craft in Art, 1950–2019 (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, November 22, 2019–January 2021). From left to right: Marie Watt, Skywalker/Skyscraper (Axis Mundi), 2012; Simone Leigh, Cupboard VIII, 2018; David James Gilhooly, Merfrog and Her Pet Fish, 1976; Liza Lou, Kitchen, 1991–96. Photograph by Ron Amstutz
From the exhibition Making Knowing: Craft in Art, 1950–2019