Ancestors Leading the Stars - ‘Eyoohiinkem He’uuk Shishyoota is an installation by artist Mercedes Dorame and it explores the deep connection to her ancestral homelands of Tovaangar. Native to our shared Orange County region and the village of Hotuuknga where Cal State Fullerton lies, Dorame’s site-specific installation examines loss as means to establish permanent records of Indigenous presence in a country that sought to erase Native people. Her work addresses the potential to reconnect to the lands of personal, spiritual, familial, and cultural significance.

Ancestors Leading the Stars - ‘Eyoohiinkem He’uuk Shishyoota invites the viewer to experience the land and sky as Indigenous through micro constellations, portals, ancestral knowledge and technology. Moving between installation and photography, Dorame asks that we remember the ground we walk on and its original caretakers. She also reminds us to look up.

Artist’s website: mercedesdorame.com

Guest Curator: Kelly Chidester, Independent Curator (MA Exhibition Design/Museum Studies, ’15)

Ancestors Leading the Stars - ‘Eyoohiinkem He’uuk Shishyoota is presented in partnership with the multi-venue initiative, Land as Kin. The project is a collaboration between Muckenthaler Cultural Center, Fullerton College, Fullerton Museum Center, and CSU Fullerton. Its initiative is to preserve and honor the traditional Native caretakers of our land through artistic endeavors. The exhibitions and programming at each location connect past and present stories while exploring identity and place. Artists participating in this project explore and address their relationship to the land we know as "Orange County" and "California." Land as Kin is committed to inspire and respect the land we occupy as 'relation and not a resource,' as the Tongva elders teach.

Each institution's exhibition will open and close at varying dates throughout fall 2021. For more information, please visit the Land as Kin website.

Image: Mercedes Dorame, Breath, Spirit, Wind – (Hikaayey), 2017. Archival Pigment Print, 36 x 36 inches.