Building Bridges at the Great Falls is a 175′ long mural on the banks of the Connecticut River, a collaboration between 6 Native artists, 2 Native historians, local youth, allied local artists and local businesses.
BACKGROUND
A few years ago, the community around the Great Falls (Peskeomskut) went through a 3 year battle to change the mascot of the local high school from the “Indians” to the “Thunder”. This fight caused many, many hard feelings in town. There was a lawn sign battle… a few families left town, a couple school board members lost their seats, and the superintendent got a few new grey hairs. Some people claimed that removing the mascot would erase Native representation at the Great Falls. As a transplant from New Jersey, local resident Elyssa Serrilli took a lesson from Newark, NJ’s vibrant mural culture. She asked the Parks Department and local Cultural Council if they would host a mural painted by a coalition of Native artists at the Great Falls, and heard back a resounding YES!
The art that emerged is a beautiful, inspiring, educational mural called “Building Bridges at the Great Falls”. This mural has stories and symbols from the cultures of the Nipmuc, Aquinnah Wampanoag, Kanien’kehà:ka (Mohawk), Mi’kmaq, Blackfoot and Maya peoples. The overarching theme of the mural is the Medicine Wheel, which represents the passage of time, connection to nature, and humanity essential role on Earth. With the Great Falls and the 13 Grandmothers at the center, the Medicine Wheel turns one quarter turn across the four outer panels – The Seasons: Winter-Spring-Summer-Fall, (2) Times of Day: Midnight-Dawn-Noon-Dusk, and (3) The Cardinal Directions: North-East-South-West. The artists incorporated prayers of peace from their own traditions into the mural, including the Maya artist who painted the Prophecy of the Eagle and the Condor. May all be welcome!
The Story of Building Bridges Mural at the Great Falls at Unity Park on the Connecticut River in Western Massachusetts
Nolumbeka Project 