Know Where You Stand

Claire Alexandre
2020

Category: Mural

Each section of the mural features different local fauna and flora that is culturally and environmentally important to each tribe.

For the Eastern Band of Cherokee Claire features corn as an important crop for sustenance and also present in Cherokee creation beliefs. Claire also features Sohan, a plant used in herbal medicine.

The meaning of Waccamaw Siouan is “the people of the Fallen Star” .

The people of the Meherrin Indian Nation call themselves Kau- wets’a:ka which means “People of the Water” and also hold a yearly ceremony honoring strawberries.

The Sappony and Lumbee Tribes feature Tobacco leaves and Longleaf Pine Cones in their respective seals.

For the Haliwa Saponi Tribe, Claire features a small thrush, a songbird usually heard very early in the morning, that is holding a branch of Dogwood a symbol of spring and of the times for planting summer crops.

The Coharie are makers of Sorghum syrup, Claire therefore features the Sorghum plant.