We Hold These Truths features contemporary baskets made from paper that have been inspired by traditional techniques, shapes, patterns and functions of Cherokee baskets. Shan Goshorn examines and manipulates the material and authority of paper (and the written word) as a weapon aimed against Native Americans in the form of treaties, ancestry rolls, laws, restrictions, land allotment and more. By weaving baskets from a variety of reproduced historical documents, Goshorn’s work offers an opportunity to re-interpret penned history from an Indigenous point of view woven from tradition.

About the artist

Shan Goshorn (Eastern Band of Cherokee) is a concept-based artist. Her recent work incorporates traditional Cherokee basket weaving. She received her VFA from the Cleveland Institute of Art/Atlanta College of Art. She has exhibited both in the United States and abroad and her work can be found in numerous collections. Goshorn resides in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Image: Shan Goshorn, Separating The Chaff, 2012