Companion Species (First and Last), 2023

Reclaimed satin bindings, industrial felt, tin jingles, cotton twill tape, and thread
Photo by Kevin McConnell.

Working primarily in textiles, the artist and citizen of the Seneca Nation Marie Watt employs a wide range of motifs that crisscross time and cultures and unite disparate histories. Iroquois protofeminism and other Indigenous teachings have strongly influenced Watt’s oeuvre. Her inclusive approach is also a knowing rejoinder to twentieth-century modernism, which many claimed to be a universal language despite its obvious Western and US centrism and often sexist and racist disregard for decorative, ornamental, and craft precedents—frequently branded “women’s work.” In her art, Watt counters such narratives. Companion Species (First and Last), for instance, features tin jingles and reclaimed satin bindings—the strips of satin that run along the edges of a blanket—in various states of wear. The very words “companion species,” which anchor many of the artist’s titles, suggest a deep relationality that extends beyond humans. As she reminds us, “When one is raised to think of animals as teachers and also as extensions of us—our relatives or relations—you’re less likely to be able to separate how our actions aXect the environment, animals, and the natural world.”