1523.org
The 1523 Project references the last year before Captain Verazzano sailed the Long Island coast. In his wake Native life changed forever.
Art Gallery
The Algonquin people have no word for "Art". Perhaps the reason is that there was
no separation between the daily means of expression and "Art".
In the images below, the subjects display art everywhere. Their hairstyles are unique, the wampum necklaces and ornaments were as finely crafted as Tiffany stained glass, feathers connected the
wearer to the Above World and bird spirits, the color red signified the energy force of life itself.
In the works below, the viewer will see lances wrapped in red cloth, swan's down used as
earrings, large shell ornaments, tattoos and body paint.
This depiction of a Pequot warrior by Zhuo Shu Liang is based on his historic research at the Mashantucket Pequot Museum in Ledyard, Connecticut. The Pequot and the people of Eastern Long Island were Algonquin and in frequent contact with each other. Historical research suggests that the Pequot Tribe were the protectors of Eastern Long Island and provided military and diplomatic might to their relations with other tribes, the English and Dutch.Trade between them is evident in the portrait above. The Warrior wears a wampum necklace of purple and white beads and earrings. Wampum was an artisans craft on Eastern Long Island. Ornaments made there were traded throughout the region and often regarded as the finest examples available.
The portrait to the left is Sassacus, the last Great Chief of the Pequot Tribe. Painted in the 17th century it is the only known image of this legendary historical figure.
As the English began to take Pequot lands, Sassacus engaged in years long diplomacy that failed and ended in the tragic Pequot War 1636-1637 A.D.
Over his right shoulder he wears a large wampum belt of five rows of purple and white beads. Possibly made for him by the finest craftsmen of the Twin Forks.
The English killed hundreds of Pequot men, women and children. They sold the women into slavery and ordered that the heads of fifteen Pequot men on the East End be delivered to the English.
The young woman to the left is shown after Europeans have arrived in Algonquin territory. Her headband and hair ties are made of imported beads. Woven into intricate designs, they portray sacred symbols like the Thunderbird and Sun.
