In May of 2006 I encountered a Minneapolis billboard (see it here), which appears to defend an indisputable ideal - the protection of one's home, livelihood, and sense of security. However, the billboard and its premise rest upon questionable grounds: all homes, farms, and businesses in the United States - save those on the parcels allotted to Indian reservations - are built upon land taken from Native Americans. The site of this billboard, in Minneapolis, became home to white settlers only after expelling the Dakota in 1838. To publicly reify this complex history and illustrate the willful flaws in the logic of eminent domain reform, I enhanced the billboard with a Dakota-style teepee - emblematic of local homes, livelihoods, and security from before the arrival of Europeans.
