Yerba Buena Gardens
Oche Wat Te Ou – Reflections is by Jaune Quick-to-see Smith and James Luna.
It sits in Yerba Buena Gardens and was installed in 1993.
This tribute to the native Ohlone Indians, created by artists Jaune Quick-to-See Smith and James Luna, takes form in a semicircular wood wall patterned with Ohlone basket designs. Standing behind a crescent-shaped pool and a circle of moss covered rocks, it’s a contemplative environment, set beside a redwood grove with a single live oak tree nearby. The artists intended the piece to serve as a performance area for poetry, storytelling, and other events in the oral tradition. The Memorial is significant since at one time this area held an Ohlone Indian burial ground.
Tiles in the reflecting pool
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith was born at the St. Ignatius Indian Mission on her reservation. She is an enrolled Salish member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Nation, Montana.
She received an Associate of Arts Degree at Olympic College in Bremerton Washington. She attended the University of Washington in Seattle, received her BA in Art Education at Framingham State College, MA and a masters degree in art at the University of New Mexico.
James Luna (February 9, 1950 – March 4, 2018) was a Payómkawichum, Ipi, and Mexican-American performance artist, photographer and multimedia installation artist. His work is best known for challenging the ways in which conventional museum exhibitions depict Native Americans. With recurring themes of multiculturalism, alcoholism, and colonialism, his work was often comedic and theatrical in nature. In 2017 he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship.