Wampanoag, 2020 (The Box)

2020 marked the 400th anniversary of the sailing of the Mayflower. The commemoration was defined by the contribution of Native Americans to events in the US, UK and in The Netherlands. The work was led by the Wampanoag Nation. The Wampanoag or ‘People of the First Light’ have lived along the American north-east coast and woodlands for 12,000 years. So, they, like other Algonquian people, were the first to encounter European seafarers from the late 1500s and into the 1600s. The Wampanoag would welcome the passengers of the Mayflower in 1620. They also enabled their survival.

400 years on, Plymouth connected with the Wampanoag people again.

In 2017 The Box established a transatlantic relationship with the Wampanoag Advisory Committee to Plymouth 400 (US). That enabled Plymouth, UK’s first ever commission to a Wampanoag artist. Her name is Nosapocket or Ramona Peters. She is a ceramicist and she created a Native American legacy – here – for 2020.

Her cooking pot is made to a traditional design, but is a piece of contemporary art. It is now part of the collections of The Box and a permanent Native American presence in Plymouth.