Working from the perspective of an Osage person, Norman Akers' use of maps of Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma is central to his printmaking as direct references to traditional, tribal homelands. While the contemporary maps record places the Osage live, they also trace a history of settler colonialism upon ancestral lands. Using imagery such as elk, birds, architectural structures, roads, tree stumps, lunch boxes, and flying saucers inhabited by historical figures found on US currency, Akers records a history of removal and change over Osage homeland while reconstructing a new sense of place in the (23) recent monoprints chosen for this exhibition.

Norman Akers is an Osage artist from the Greyhorse District community in Oklahoma. He has been an associate professor of art teaching painting and printmaking at the University of Kansas since 2009, and continues to maintain an active exhibition schedule around the country.