The last surviving members of the Neutral Nation, a tribe that called the Eastern shore of Lake Erie and the Niagara River home before the arrival of the Seneca, provided unknowingly the name that now refers to creek, urban street, expressway, and drain: Scajaquada. Beyond the Multitude. According to many sources, the oldest word in use on the Niagara Frontier.
The creek was a lush fishing ground and a site of historical significance during the War of 1812. It provided inspiration for Frederick Law Olmsted and, through a series of dams, produced and fed the lake that was the centerpiece of his Delaware Park in Northern Buffalo. And now, it functions in a different way: as a covered, abused, engineered, and half-forgotten urban waterway, as a buried stream below Buffalo’s East Side, as a sewer beneath its streets, as public right-of-way, as drainage ditch. Creek, sewer, parkland, path, lake, expressway, flooded basement.
But, in spite of a century of abuses, Scajaquada also functions as a symbol of hope for the future of Buffalo. Though the majority of the creek is diverted away to water treatment facilities before it emerges in Forest Lawn Cemetery, the creek is renewed among the buried, nourished by natural springs as it flows along one of the last remaining segments of its original streambed.
Beyond the Multitude seeks to explore the varied histories, narratives, communities, and ecologies of Scajaquada Creek through a combination of historical photographs and documents and work by contemporary regional artists. Photographers, painters, street artists, sculptors, videographers and filmmakers, performers, and other artists, practitioners, makers, and speakers are invited to submit work to be included in the exhibition. Submissions can take the form of proposals, websites, digital images, video, or audio. For any questions and to submit work, send an e-mail to multitudes@scajaquada.org. All proposals must be made by September 5, 2010.
The show will open Sunday, September 19, 2010 from 4-8pm, and will be up in 464 and Blink galleries for one week.