A Mighty Oak Lived West [sic] of Here, 2017

Performative lecture and unrealized proposal for the alteration of a public monument advocating for the ethical and decolonized memorialization of a historic oak tree in Pittsburgh, PA.

I presented my research and proposal to the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America (Allegheny County Chapter), the managing organization of the memorial. The memorial is a large, cement tree stump, a “Mighty Oak” that witnessed the military campaign of British General John Forbes during the French and Indian War. I proposed to add an addendum to the monument which challenges the existing memorial and celebrates the memory of the oak tree as a living being rather than a symbol of political ideology, colonialism, genocide and resource crusades.

My proposal was denied, but documentation of my lecture and alternative plaque live on in the organization’s archives.