WELCOME TO TERRITORY
ABOUT THE INSTALLATION
LENAPE CENTER
ESTABLISHED 2009, NEW YORK, NEW YORK
JOE BAKER
BORN 1946, BARTLESVILLE, OKLAHOMA (LENAPE, DELAWARE TRIBE OF INDIANS); ACTIVE NEW YORK, NEW YORK
Placed directly across from the museum’s entryway, this installation pays homage to the Lenape people as the original and rightful stewards of Lenapehoking, the land on which this building stands. Accounts written by European explorers in the 16th and 17th centuries described the Lenape wearing intricately constructed feathercapes. Joe Baker, co-founder of the Lenape Center, has created contemporary interpretations of these turkey-feather capes that suspend from the ceiling. Notably absent is the human figure—a poignant reflection of the Lenape people’s displacement from their homeland—yet the spiritual beings that remain evoke a sense of their enduring presence. The walls are covered in wallpaper patterned with stylized tulip trees native to Lenapehoking. The tulip tree, once ever-present throughout this region, holds special significance in Lenape culture for its beauty and practical uses. Today, these trees can still be found in Inwood Hill Park.
Visual Description
This gallery is a light-filled and airy square space with sloped ceilings and elaborate crown moldings. The room has motifs on the moldings and imagery including lyres, laurel wreaths, and scalloped shells on golden colored stained-glass windows. French doors under a white trimmed archway open to a well-manicured garden.
Along the walls are panels of floral wallpaper. Yellow, orange, and purple blooms burst among lush greenery. The warm autumnal colors shine and sparkle as specks of light hit golden gestural markings throughout the wallpaper. The flowers are painterly, giving the wallpaper a hand painted quality rather than printed wallpaper.
Hung above the empty room are three feathered capes suspended about seven or eight feet off the ground by thin wiring. The capes are made of turkey feathers that are brown with white tips. The capes are arranged in a “V” formation.
The capes are open at the front revealing a handsewn brown lining inside. Each cape is individualized by length or by the treatment of its collar; some have bold geometric patterning while others have fur trim.
The capes quietly sway as visitors pass underneath.
Acknowledgements
Unami wallpaper produced in collaboration with Calico Wallpaper.
Special thanks to Hector Meza and Ágnes Sántha.
