Indians helped me with that. All of these experiences have been about learning and hoping that somebody else picks it up. I dreamt that bowl finished and that's the only piece of art where that’s happened. While I was working on it, I knew that the ancestors were thrilled. I could feel it. BEATIE: That’s wonderful L, and I bet by physically making you must learn things that you could never get from a book or another source of information? L FRANK: Absolutely. When I was first learning to weave basketry I heard voices and realized that they were coming from the basket. And my eyes must have been huge because as I'm weaving, I'm listening to these women laughing and chatting and it was all transmitted through the basket and through my hands. The motion, the plants, everything that has memory was operating all at once. BEATIE: I imagine with the amount of information you’re picking up on which doesn't fit into the traditional view, and then the genocide and absolute erasure of all that you know to be true, it all must be very impossible to reconcile. L FRANK: It has its moments when I can feel it. I was part of a Netflix show called the City of Ghost and we were having a lovely time, it was going great. And I say to people all the time that I'm extinct, no problem. But this one woman went quiet. And then she says, “How does it feel to be extinct?” And I just burst into tears. Every once in a while I can just feel it. BEATIE: Oh L. My dad, mum, brother and I did this road trip, and we came out to Utah and Arizona and Colorado when I was about four. And my first experience and memory was of the Navajo and the Hopi peoples and the art and sense of history and culture. That's what I thought America was and so I thought America was the greatest place ever. It's a large part of why I'm here, because of that energy. And then you realize, no, that's not the case. If you could make human beings see one thing, what would it be? L FRANK: To not kill the ocean. If they cared just for the ocean even. That involves so many things for me and goes along with a statement of Think Globally, Act Locally. I tell people to plant more whales because they plant trees for carbon offset. Well somehow, scientifically, one whale is worth 1000 planted trees. So how do you plant a whale? How can you plant a whale? What do whales need? And then everybody comes up with a different idea. And if we all take those ideas, we could plant more whales. I'd like to make a whale show. BEATIE: Thinking about art today, what do you think we've gained and what do you think we've lost? L FRANK: We’ve lost the ability to do much beauty with little. I really experienced that when I was in Latvia and I went to a museum and the art was some of the most glorious I’d seen. And it turns out that they barely had any tools or supplies and all this oppression and hindrance. And yet it was the finest art I'd ever seen. BEATIE: What is it that you hope to leave behind with all the work that you've done and the work that you are continuing to do? L FRANK: Corita’s rule number seven: Do the work. Everybody's jealous of this or wants that, but just do the work. BEATIE: Well you are doing the work. Thank you L! LISTEN TO BEATIE’S CONVERSATION WITH L ON HER DUBLAB PODCAST, ORANGE JUICE FOR THE EARS: https://www.dublab.com/archive/beatiewolfe-orange-juice-for-the-ears-w-l-frank-10-28-22 FOR ALL OTHER STREAMING SERVICES: https://anchor.fm/dublab-radio/ episodes/Ancestry-Tongva-Acjachemen-artist-and-activist-L--Franke1q53vr/a-a8ptrbv “MUSICAL WEIRDO AND VISIONARY" (VICE) BEATIE WOLFE IS AN ARTIST WHO HAS BEAMED HER MUSIC INTO SPACE, BEEN APPOINTED A UN ROLE MODEL FOR INNOVATION, AND HELD AN ACCLAIMED SOLO EXHIBITION OF HER “WORLD FIRST” ALBUM DESIGNS AT THE VICTORIA & ALBERT MUSEUM. WOLFE'S LATEST INNOVATION FROM GREEN TO RED IS AN ENVIRONMENTAL PROTEST PIECE BUILT USING 800,000 YEARS OF CLIMATE DATA TO VISUALISE RISING CO2 LEVELS WHICH WAS UNVEILED AT THE NOBEL PRIZE SUMMIT, THE LONDON DESIGN BIENNALE, THE NEW YORK TIMES CLIMATE HUB AND THE UN'S GLOBAL CLIMATE CONFERENCE COP26. OTHER RECENT PROJECTS INCLUDE A COLLECTIVE ART CAMPAIGN IN SUPPORT OF USPS WITH MARK MOTHERSBAUGH AND THE WORLD'S FIRST BIOPLASTIC RECORD RELEASE WITH MICHAEL STIPE. COYOTE'S CULTURE REVIVAL ACT THE BOWL TWISTS SUNRISE DEPARTURE DIGITAL PRINT (2018) TRADITIONAL PLANK CANOE
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