The Drift is a visual archive of the future where the politics and excuses for failed Indigenous repatriation are bypassed through an inexplicable force that returns all that is lost and stolen. Echoing a radial path from extraction to healing, the installation with Travis Stewart (Chinook, Kalapuya, Rogue River) for TBA: 21 culminates a multi-year project undertaken by Imatani with Stewart and the Cultural Resources Department at the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde. A catalog and online screening of the film, The Drift, accompany the installation of carved and milled sculptures, 3D prints, and photographs to treat form as story, countdown, and inner eye to a scene within and beyond human control.
The catalog includes an introduction by Stewart, who also serves as Curator and Manager of the Chachalu Museum and Cultural Center for the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, and essays by scholar Brook Colley (Wasco, Warm Springs, Eastern Cherokee; Enrolled: Eastern Band of Cherokee) and curator Ashley Stull Meyers. The catalog was designed by Omnivore and supported through funds by The Ford Family Foundation. The VR mapping was installed with Matt Krause.
