MIGRATION/RELOCATION SPRING 2006 SEE MORE

NINE PUBLIC SIGNS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE, KNOXVILLE

The tick marks and x images in Migration/Relocation act as a metaphor for change, cycles, and intent. On one level, the repetitive tick marks and Xs comments on the US governments regional, national and international policies on human beings to the forcible relocation and removal of people from one location to another. On another level, Migration/Relocation is a statement about current events such as the US invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, the major conflict between the Palestinians and Israelis, and the current proposed 700-mile fence along the U.S.-Mexico border. On a regional level, the signs act as a metaphor for the forcible removal of indigenous peoples from their lands east of the Mississippi River to Indian Territories now the present-day Oklahoma (The Trail of Tears).