Oyster House critiques the history of colonialism and land appropriation which occurred during Dutch Colonial expansion in 17th-18th century Brooklyn by bringing forward pre-colonial narratives and asserting indigenous presence often obscured in mainstream historical discourse. By unearthing historical landscapes tied to indigenous narratives and presence, a kinetic midden is exhumed and activated within a Dutch Colonial interior reclaiming space for indigenous narratives.
School of Design | Graduate Interior Design
Student: Laura Wu-Ohlson
Faculty: Annie Coogan
The Nicholas Schenck House, an 18th century New York Dutch Colonial farmhouse originally located on indigenous agricultural land appropriated by Dutch settlers such as the Schenck’s, is re-appropriated by an activated midden. Activation of pre-colonial landscapes serves as a device to reclaim and bring awareness to obscured indigenous narratives.
The impetus for interrogating the condition of survival among 18th century Dutch colonizers stemmed from intimately documenting the Nicholas Schenck House dining room, investigating the history of land occupied by the Schenck’s and revealing the injustices leading to Dutch occupation. Inquiry into the agricultural history of the Canarsie region of Brooklyn where the Nicholas Schenck House was located revealed that prior to Dutch arrival in the 17th century, Canarsie Native Americans had been engaged in agricultural activity in the region for several millennia
