March 29, 2024

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Art Is Experience

‘Water is Life’ mural by Seneca artist installed on the Genesee | Art

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&#13 Artist Peter Jemison stands in front of his "Water is Life" mural, which was installed on the Floreano Convention Center facing the Genesee River. - PHOTO BY REBECCA RAFFERTY&#13

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  • &#13 Artist Peter Jemison stands in front of his “Water is Lifetime” mural, which was mounted on the Floreano Convention Middle facing the Genesee River.&#13
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In the Haudenosaunee creation tale, Sky Female, the daughter of the Good Spirit, descends from the heavens towards a watery world whose animals, fearing for her security, dredge mud from the base of the sea to make the earth increase on the again of a large turtle.

That tale has been depicted on a new mural that was unveiled Tuesday in downtown Rochester at the edge of the Genesee River.

Artist Peter Jemison, manager of the Ganondagan Point out Historic Internet site, painted the do the job, titled “Water is Daily life.” A weatherproof replica was mounted on the facet of the Floreano Convention Center in cooperation with the town.

Jemison is a member of the Seneca Country, which is section of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy (also acknowledged as the Iroquois — a identify supplied to them by French colonists).

“To me this was the best spot for the mural,” Jemison reported through the unveiling.

“I truly feel a quite solid link to the Genesee River since our people today — my persons, the Seneca people — lived on the river below, all the way down as far as Letchworth Condition Park,” he stated.

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&#13 Peter Jemison's mural, "Water is Life," depicts the Haudenosaunee creation story. - PHOTO BY REBECCA RAFFERTY&#13

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  • &#13 Peter Jemison’s mural, “Water is Lifestyle,” depicts the Haudenosaunee generation tale.&#13
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Mayor Charming Warren led the unveiling, and commented on the Haudenosaunee people’s impressive partnership to the organic globe as nicely as the city’s investment decision in remaking the riverfront, which has been a centerpiece of her administration.

“Today we honor that marriage, not only by this mural, but by reinvesting in and reimagining our romance with the h2o that operates through our metropolis,” Warren mentioned.

Jemison, whose artwork is at present on show at the Memorial Art Gallery through Nov. 7, also oversaw the addition of the Seneca Artwork & Cultural Centre at Ganondagan Point out Historic Web-site in 2014. The SACC functions as a museum to the Seneca’s background in this location, a fantastic arts gallery, and a executing arts centre.

A plaque with the title, names of contributing artists, and the development story is installed upcoming to the mural.

The set up of “Water is Life” marks what Jemison identified as a start to educating the broader public about the record of this land and its original inhabitants.

“My ambition was to set one thing below that would admit the primary folks that occupied this land,” he claimed. “And this definitely solves that, just as a excellent illustration of a story of ours, the development story, an classy story that figures into our cosmology. I imagine it will help raise consciousness.”

The unveiling arrived in advance of Indigenous People’s Working day, Oct. 11, which the town formally recognized as the different to Columbus Day in 2018.

Rebecca Rafferty is CITY’s lifestyle editor. She can be reached at [email protected].

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