Roll Call is a narrow, upright, tubular basket woven from strips of inkjet prints in alternating hues of cream and indigo. On each strip of paper, also called a splint, names are printed in a black, typewriter-style font. The cream-colored splints primarily run from top to bottom, angling slightly towards the right, while the splints in varying shades of indigo are positioned horizontally. Roughly 1 foot high and 5 inches around, the cylindrical form is slightly larger than a half-gallon carton of milk. When viewed from above, the plain white backs of the slips of woven paper spiral inward, evoking the winding double helix of human DNA. Artificial sinew--an artificial fiber--the color of honey wraps around the top edge of the basket like thread.
Using traditional Cherokee basketmaking techniques, Goshorn created the work by weaving together paper splints printed with the names of Cherokee students at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, addressing the forced assimilation of Indigenous children that took place at boarding schools in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The title, Roll Call, references the common practice of taking attendance in schools. Typical responses like “here” or “present” ring false in this setting, where students were punished for speaking their native languages. This traumatizing policy stripped students of their sense of belonging within tribal culture for the purpose of strengthening white supremacy.
