Early Indigenous Literatures

Disrupting inevitability of the settler state

Here we see the United States flag being whisked away in the cycling movement of the painting. The flag is an ambivalent space in the sense that one can read it as both imposing and insignificant. As the flag circles, it surrounds the person, playing an integral role as one of the main visual markers orienting the location and time of the piece. However, it is also being sucked into the circle, seeming to almost disappear because of the speeding motion. The rider and her steed ultimately control the speed with which the circle turns, even as they are running with the imagery of blood and the threat of the title--that massacre from which they are (continually) fleeing. The zipping (away?) of the settler state flag shrinks its power and grasp while not allowing it to disappear its own responsibilities as progenitors of these flights.

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