2019, polyester blend fabric, dye sublimation, air blowers, hardware, 25’x35’x34’

Founders is a mobile monument and collaboration between Floating Museum, Chris Pappan (Kanza/Osage, Lakota)and Monica Rickert-Bolter (Potawatomi/African-American/German). The inflatable sculpture features four busts facing the four cardinal directions. The form is a mix of interpretations of items from the collections of the DuSable Museum of African American History, the Field Museum of Natural History, as well as interpretations of various historical figures. The busts reference Jean Baptiste Pointe du Sable (Chicago’s first non-indigenous settler), Kitihawa (du Sable’s Potawatomi wife), Harold Washington (first African American Mayor of Chicago), and a bust of a young boy by artist William Artis. The pattern on the inflatable monument was inspired by Potawatomi textiles in the Field Museum collections.