51 Lines for State. Isabella Saunooke (Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians), artist
By Gina Malone
As the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence draws near, commemorations and celebrations of American history abound. The Museum of the Cherokee People (MotCP), in Cherokee, presents an exhibition years in the making, and one that is self-funded and independent: ᏧᏂᏲᏍᎩ ᏂᎨᏒᎾ: ᏣᎳᎩ ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎯ ᏃᎴ ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏁᎦ ᏓᏂᎦᏘᎴᎬ ᎠᏰᎵ ᎤᏙᏒᎲᎢ (Unrelenting: Cherokee People and the American Revolution). The exhibition runs through December 30.
“This is a First Voice led exhibition on a subject that has long been told from a singular perspective,” says Dakota Brown (EBCI), MotCP director of education. “The majority of the primary sources written about Cherokee people were written by non-Cherokee people, and the secondary sources are also written by non-Cherokee scholars. In the four years we spent researching this exhibit, we were careful to look at every source with scrutiny, adding a Cherokee community and cultural lens, to be able to tell the Cherokee story from a Cherokee perspective of this moment in history.”
Curators of the exhibition invite reflection and conversations. “It is important for us to tell the story of American settler land encroachment into Cherokee territories, broken treaties and the years of war that led up to this time,” Brown says. “Cherokee people were fighting to protect our land and communities, and the results of the war began a long history of Cherokee and American relations that resulted in our continued land dispossession, eventual split of our nation and incredible loss of life due to the Indian Removal Act, and many acts of systematic oppression. It is important to look back at the intentionality that went into the decisions our ancestors made in these moments. It is equally important to bring the story forward to today to see how this moment continues to impact our Cherokee communities today, which we have chosen to do through the contemporary Cherokee art, shown alongside historical objects.” The art displayed, she adds, offers examples of the complexity with which Cherokee people view the past.
Isabella Saunooke (EBCI) is one of the artists whose work, 51 Lines for State, 2026, is on display for Unrelenting. She uses her creativity, she says, to explore her identity as an EBCI citizen who grew up close to but not on the Qualla Boundary. “Drawing, painting, and writing are actions I take to express the spiritual experience of transformation,” Saunooke says. “My art practice is one that grows with me and my interests. This piece, in particular, is the product of returning home and creating new boundaries for the next stage of my life.”
While installing her work at the museum, Saunooke watched Unrelenting come together all around her. “It was meaningful because I was able to spend time with each piece before the opening,” she says. “There is a wide range of materials, and seeing the depth of Cherokee people is incredible.”
Brown hopes that visitors to the exhibition gain a greater awareness “of the hard choices and intentional thoughts that went behind the decisions made by our ancestors and that there is an understanding of how and why we as a Cherokee people still look back on this moment in history with complexity.” And, she adds, “I hope our Cherokee community feels connection and understanding to our ancestors that led us in our past, each attempting in their own way to safeguard our homelands and protect our people.”
Learn more at MotCP.org.
