52?

I’ve come to the conclusion that the number 52 is no longer relevant to my project.  The reason I chose 52 was because I wanted to convey the idea of the passage of time.  That this story began long ago and continues today, 52 for 52 weeks, one year.  As I have worked on the project though I’m realizing that it isn’t necessary.  My artist statement will explain my motivations for creating the work and anyone who doesn’t read the artist statement will have their own reading of the work.

So, I’ve been looking for a significant number of pieces to use in the piece, here’s what I’ve come up with; over 460 ancestors have been returned to Haida Gwaii, 48 have been returned from the American museum of natural History(AMNH) and from North America(NA) 400 have been repatriated with 3 on long term loan.

In most of my calculations I’ve got myself creating one for every ten ancestors, except for the AMNH 48 and the NA 40 +3.  48 is 1/1, each piece referring to an actual ancestor, where as 46 is 1/10 each piece referring to ten ancestors.  I guess it depends on how personal I want the work to feel.  46 will refer to the whole project, 48 to specific ancestors, I don’t know if I am related to any of the ancestors from the AMNH, I could be and that would help in my decision making process.  I’m going to have to come up with an actual title for this work.