Tonight, the Public Art Fund will debut Cannupa Hanska Luger’s newest sculpture, Attrition. Made up of steel and ash black patina features, the 10-foot skeletal bison explores the relationship between animals, humans, and land in the context of Ingenious experiences within the United States. The opening reception will take place tonight, while the official viewing will be open to the public on Wednesday, which also falls on World Environment Day.
The sculpture will live on the pathway to City Hall Park in Lower Manhattan, the center of policy making within the city. The symbolism behind the sculpture confronts the past histories of the European settlers’ aggressive practices that took place in the 19th century, which inevitably led to the lack of survival within the bison population.
The artist behind the sculpture, Cannupa Hanska Luger, is a descendant of the buffalo people. Luger is an active member of the Three Affiliated Tribes of Fort Berthold and is Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara and Lakota. His ancestry and personal identity actively inspire the work he creates. Taking this into account while creating Attrition, the sculpture symbolizes Indigenous resilience and sovereignty.
The symbol of the bison represents the displacement of Indigenous people, and the disruption that European settlers caused to the native land. Bison were once used as a source of food, shelter, clothing, and as a tool-making material for Indigenous people. Throughout the 1800s, settlers slaughtered millions of bison as a form of Western expansion, and furthered the displacement of Great Plains Native Americans. The population, which was once tens of millions, dropped to 1500 by 1895. The erasure of bison not only had negative effects on the environment – it cut down natural materials for Indigenous people to almost nothing, forcing them into Western practices.
“My ongoing exploration of bison aims to bring awareness to the importance of their impact as an apex species in the environment,” Luger said. “Over the course of my life, I’ve developed a personal relationship with this animal – one that is on the verge of survivor’s guilt – because I know their eradication was put in place to create dominance in the Central Plains.”
The decline of the bison population added to the erasure of Indigenous knowledge systems, and created long term numerous environmental effects, including the change of local biospheres due to the loss of plant populations that were typically germinated by bison migrations. Bison bones were instead used for materials in steel production, the industry that led to global industrialization for the United States.
Luger’s sculpture will rest on grass that is native to New York, and is a visual representation of the aggressive changes made to indigenous communities over the last few centuries. Hosted by the Public Art Fund, a non-profit organization, that brings contemporary art to the public forefront with outside exhibitions that aim to create powerful experiences within the urban environment.
‘Attrition’ by Cannupa Hanska Luger will be on view to the public beginning June 4. The sculpture, located at City Hall Park in Lower Manhattan, will remain on view through November 17.