First Literature Project Brings History to Life at Guild Hall

Beginning Saturday, May 18, Guild Hall presents a First Literature Project (FLP) virtual reality experience. The project supports Native nations in their efforts to maintain and further their languages, narratives and oral traditions. Employing a new immersive storytelling platform, 3D video is mixed with virtual reality to recreate the timeless experience of sitting face-to-face with a storyteller. Organized by Anthony Madonna, Guild Hall Patti Kenner Director of Learning + New Works, the piece remains on view through July 15.

First Literature Project utilizes the newly released Apple Vision Pro headset to present the immersive experience Padawe, developed over a two-year period by Guild Hall Community Artists-in-Residence Wunetu Wequai Tarrant and Christian Scheider. The exhibition also features video works by the Shinnecock language revitalization collective Ayim Kutoowonk and interviews with members of the Shinnecock Nation.

This partnership resulted in two years of filmed interviews with several members of the Shinnecock Nation including Denise Silva-Dennis, Rebecca Genia, Keith Phillips, Andrina Wekontash Smith, Christina Tarrant, Holly Haile Thompson, Margo Thunderbird, and Ruben Valdez. Their video interviews will be featured as part of the exhibition.

“The significance of having a platform to share our history cannot be understated,” says Tarrant. “A wealth of knowledge is left out when the only accounts of Indigenous cultures available are written by outside anthropologists and authors. The FLP’s method will bring our stories into the 21st century, using our voices, our faces, and sharing our perspectives.”

Tarrant is a member of the Shinnecock Indian Nation in Southampton. She grew up with her family on the Shinnecock reservation and has been inspired by her grandmother and matriarch of the ThunderBird clan, Elizabeth ‘Chee Chee’ ThunderBird Haile, to promote cultural preservation and education. She is currently a Linguistics Ph.D. candidate at the University of Arizona focusing on the reconstruction and revitalization of the Shinnecock dialect of Southern New England Algonquian. Tarrant has worked closely with the Algonquian Language Revitalization Project on designing curriculum and activities for teaching Shinnecock and related dialects and continues to research best practices in language research and production of materials that will be accessible to community members and teachers regardless of linguistic education experience. She has continued to advocate for Indigenous students as the Julia & Bernard Bloch fellow (2019-2022) and special interest groups through the Linguistic Society of America.

“This was a long process that had to move at the speed of trust. To begin, we were invited into homes, into gathering places, into backyards, and when we arrived all we did was turn the cameras on and listen,” adds Christian Scheider, an independent filmmaker and theater maker living between New York City and the East End. “In close to 100 hours of footage, we asked only a handful of questions. That is always the sign when you know you are where you need to be. There was so much that needed to be said — there still is. Our role, even more than creating this new format, is to listen, and to remember what we hear.”

The exhibition will be open from May 18 to July 15 in Guild Hall’s Marks Family Gallery South. Timed entry is required to experience the virtual-reality work. Times are every half hour beginning at noon with the last entry at 4 p.m. Additional public programs featuring the project’s creative team and collaborations include: An Artist Talk With Peter Fisher, Christian Scheider and Wunetu Wequai Tarrant will be held on Thursday, May 23, at 6 p.m.; Artist Talk with Ayim Kutoowonk, Andrina Wekontash Smith and Wunetu Wequai Tarrant on Thursday, May 30, at 6 p.m.; A Creative Lab with Ahanu Valdez will be held Monday, June 17, at 6 p.m.

Advance reservations are recommended for the exhibition at guildhall.org. Guild Hall is at 158 Main Street in East Hampton.