Land Acknowledgement Statement
The "we" in this statement is in reference to the Salvage Exchange organizing team.
We acknowledge the inadequacy of a land statement. We also acknowledge the potential for words as action. We acknowledge that settler colonialism is an ongoing process and we hope this acknowledgement can be a step in recognizing the continued colonization of this land and its people. We are on the unceded and occupied territory of the Duwamish Tribe- a people who are here and still fighting for their land and sovereignty. We encourage you to acknowledge whose lands you are on in the chat if you’re coming to us from somewhere else. We acknowledge the violence that it took to colonize this land, to forcibly remove the Duwamish people from this land, and to cultivate and to "develop" this land.
We acknowledge that we are beneficiaries of and participants in the ongoing process of settler colonialism. We also acknowledge the diversity of ancestral migration histories specifically for members of our team, which include histories of forced migration through enslavement and displacement brought on by white European/American colonialism.
We would also like to acknowledge and honor Indigenous resistance to the settler colonial state historically and currently. From the occupation of discovery park which led to the creation of the Day Break Star Indian Cultural Center to the ongoing Land Back march at Occidental Square.
We would also like to support and encourage solidarity action. Including support of the Duwamish Tribe financially through Real Rent (link shared in chat) as well as their calls to action in support of federal recognition (petition and more information listed in the chat). As the petition reads, "Federal recognition does not create tribes, but rather recognizes social-political entities that pre-date the United States."
As others have said "Decolonization is not a metaphor" and we encourage support for and education around decolonial organizing and land return efforts. On our website (and in the chat) we have provided links to the ‘Just Transition’ framework organized by the Indigenous Environmental Network, The Red Deal organized by The Red Nation, and Resource Generations Land Reparations and Indigenous solidarity toolkit.
Lastly we want to highlight the intersection of colonialism and houselessness. Within the boundaries designated as King County (the unceded land of the Muckleshoot, Duwamish, Snohomish, Coast Salish, Stillaguamish, and Suquamish tribes), Indigenous people make up "less than 1 percent of the county’s population" but according to the 2019 Point in Time count, Indigenouse people "account for 10 percent of those experiencing houselessness."
Towards addressing the reality of houselessness, we would like to amplify the work of local co-operative, Queer the Land. "Queer the Land, a collective project resisting displacement and gentrification, is celebrating the acquisition of a 12 bedroom house on historic Beacon Hill. This unique project will house a cooperative and community center by and for queer trans and 2spirit Black Indigenous people of color."
They are now raising funds to make this home fully accessible, and we encourage you to read about them and support their work. The Salvage Exchange team has committed to donating 50% or our artist fee from this project to Queer the Land.
Resources
Land Reparations & Indigenous Solidarity Toolkit
Just Transition by the Indigenous Environmental Network
Land Back March at Occidental Square
History of the 1970 Takeover of Fort Lawton
The Red Deal - Indigenous Action to Save Our Earth
Access Statement
In Salvage Rituals, we acknowledge the many ways that our bodies are measured by their ability to function in this capitalist ableist model of productivity. We recognize that in our individual participation and experiences in the dance world, theater community, performance art and mainstream culture, we have been complicit in and affected by systems that perpetuate bodily harm and objectification. To unlearn and counteract these views, we strive to create access-centered spaces, starting from what’s possible and what’s sustainable.
Currently for us, that looks like texting the group thread when we need support. It looks like building the trust to be ourselves in space together, trusting that we are enough, as we are. It looks like learning how to be flexible with our schedules and rehearsal plans based on what people feel up for that day. Gauging capacity. It looks like building choreography that is based on what each of our unique beautiful bodies can do, and finding alternate methods to do things in ways that feel sustainable to ourselves.
We are aware of our learning edges and that we need to listen to and learn from those who are most impacted by these ableist systems. Please share with us any thoughts or feedback for how we can be more accessible. As Kinetic Light articulates “Access is a process. We recognize that we will never get it ‘right,’ because access is not a product or a checklist.” In Salvage Exchange, we are learning and unlearning so that we can transform together.
Embodiment Statement
What is Embodiment? To make part of a system, or whole; to incorporate. A call back to yourself. A process in which you bring awareness to the circulation of unique thoughts, feelings, sensations, and energies throughout the body. Not a separation of mind and body, but rather an integration. White Supremacy culture seeks to categorize our mind, thoughts, ideas, and words, and often values those more important than the body.
How do the two merge and equalize? How can the body, any body, and it's range of experiences have the same value in society as does the brain? What is the container for an embodiment experience that we can foster? Throughout Salvage Exchange, we may make offerings/proposals/considerations of ways to access and explore your body, and any way you and your body choose to engage is valid. Allow change, allow listening, allow challenge and curiosity, allow your body to meet this experience as it is, where it is, how it is. These are invitations, not obligations, not tasks, not requests.
Embodiment practices are often associated with movement practices and dance - both are traumatic practices for a lot of us. Start from what you have and where you are. Try to release any preconceptions you may have about what an embodied practice is, what dance is, what bodies are able or allowed to do those practices, or how you or it should look like. There is no right or wrong way of doing something. Move as much or as little, in whatever way feels enriching to you at this moment. Trauma lives in the body. So do those white supremacy and systems of oppression.
As you are diving into these embodiment practices,notice which voices come up, are they systems of oppression that are talking to you and limiting the range of your possibility? Nothing should be painful. This is sloppy and this takes time, growth is nonlinear. Embodiment is the journey, not the destination.