About The Contributors

Artist

Scott Strong Hawk Foster, Hassanamisco Nipmuc Photographer

Kuppittumwas (Greetings),

It is with immense pleasure and gratitude that I welcome you to this exhibit of my photography series, Ways of My Ancestors – Imagery: Lighting the Path to Awareness.

I am a member of the Hassanamisco Band of the Nipmuc Tribe. My ancestors were the original stewards of Nipnet, “the freshwater place,” that spanned central Massachusetts, northwestern Rhode Island and into the Connecticut River Valley. My ethos as a Hassanamisco Nipmuc artist and cultural preservation photographer is to represent my family and my community authentically, to record compelling images that make known the true stories of our heritage, values, and oral traditions, and to attest to how we are thriving today! Through this portrait series, I endeavor to educate the unaware and misinformed while fostering inclusion and speaking the truths to tell OUR story as Indigenous inhabitants of this region.

This exhibit spotlights descendants of the Massachusett, Wampanoag, Nipmuc, Narragansett and Mi’kmaq peoples. It is important to us to honor the generations of ancestors who accomplished so many great things and made incredible sacrifices so we could one day thrive again. The shores of greater Boston were among the first points of contact between Native Americans and the earliest Europeans to come ashore in the 16th century. In this space and on this soil that became ‘ground zero’ for centuries of decimation, destruction, attempted eradication and forced assimilation of the aboriginal peoples who had been here for a millennia, it is of historic importance to document that we – the progeny of great Indigenous nations – are still here.

In addition to photographing powwows and cultural events, you can find me capturing weddings, landscapes, wildlife, food and many other people, places, activities and events that cross my path.

You may also catch me rooting for Boston sports teams, curating my collection of thousands of photographs, attending cultural workshops and exhibitions, and enjoying food, music and the good company of several beautiful friends that I've been blessed to have over the years.

In closing, I want to acknowledge my family, friends, Native community, and those who I've met along the way for helping me feed and realize my passion. "I may be wandering, but I'm not lost."

Aquene (Peace) and safe travels.

Editor & Researcher

Shawn Givhan, EdD

This project has been developed with the research, writing, and editing support of Dr. Shawn Givhan. From the proposal stage to final exhibition, Shawn assisted by applying years of knowledge and experience in the areas of journalism, content creation, professional communication, and instructional design to the work of bringing Ways of My Ancestors: Imagery – Lighting the Path to Awareness to fruition. Dr. Givhan considers it a tremendous honor to have contributed to this historic representation of the descendants of the Indigenous peoples of the Eastern Woodlands.

Public & Corporate Art Construction Management Firm

BRM Production Management

We are a public and corporate art construction management firm. We provide project management and general contracting services to public art and placemaking clients. Our team of project managers has a combined 38 years of experience managing arts and events, with an emphasis on the planning and execution of novel and impactful concepts. 

​We live for the stuff that’s never been done before because everything is figuroutable. Do you have an idea? Send us an email to schedule a 15 minute consultation. We’d love to get to know you!  

BRM Production Management is certified as a Women's Business Enterprise (WBE) through the Women's Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC), the nation's largest third party certifier of businesses owned and operated by women in the US. BRM is also a member of the National Small Business Association and is a "WOSB" (Woman Owned Small Business).

BRM Production Management was the project management firm for this Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture’s Un-monument initiative.

Host Site

Faneuil Hall - Quincy Marketplace

Located in downtown Boston, steps away from the waterfront, Faneuil Hall is alive today as it was in 1742 when our nation’s fathers proclaimed it “The Cradle of Liberty.”

Over 80 businesses occupy Boston’s iconic mixed use festival marketplace. Customers enjoy unique, locally loved, and nationally recognized shops while indulging in the worldwide cuisine at our restaurants, pubs, and in the world-famous Quincy Market Colonnade.

The cobblestone promenades are filled with the music and jaw-dropping routines of world-renowned street performers and musicians.Faneuil Hall Marketplace is at the top of the list of things to see in Boston!

Funding

Un-Monument Project

Un-monument | Re-monument | De-monument

Building toward Boston’s 250th anniversary, we're collaborating with artists, local cultural organizations, and community members to create new public art projects that expand the inclusive histories represented in public spaces across the City.

This multi-year program, which began in 2024, enables artists to promote a far more engaged, reflective, creative, and active relationship with the city’s landscape and built environment.

The Un-monument initiative includes six curatorial approaches to commissioning temporary monuments across the City. Some Un-monument temporary monuments were selected through an open call to artists led by the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture. Others are the result of direct commissions by five organizations serving as curatorial partners:

Boston Public Art Triennial Emerson Contemporary National Center of Afro-American Artists North American Indian Center of Boston Pao Arts Center

Funding

Mellon Foundation

Philanthropic Fundraising Services

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is the nation’s largest supporter of the arts and humanities. Since 1969, the Foundation has been guided by its core belief that the humanities and arts are essential to human understanding. Through our grants, we seek to build just communities enriched by meaning and guided by critical thinking, where ideas and imagination can thrive.

Grant Resources

We make grants through our core program areas and signature Presidential Initiatives, including Imagining Freedom, our grantmaking in Puerto Rico, and The Monuments Project.

How and what we fund

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation actively works with our grantee partners and we are deeply immersed in the fields in which we invest. Our grants are designed to activate the spirit of learning through the creation and sharing of bold new ideas and the inspiration felt in art, expression, spaces, and scholarship.

Mellon makes most of its grants to organizations in the United States that have been determined by the IRS to be section 501(c)(3) charities, as well as organizations outside the United States that are equivalent to US public charities. As a rule, the Foundation does not fund tuition, K-12 education and programming, fundraising events, or provide direct unrestricted funding for individuals. The Foundation makes grants designated for charitable and/or educational purposes and grant applications and other communications should always be in alignment with those purposes.

Our staff seek out and get to know innovative organizations, scholars, and creators before inviting them to submit a proposal for funding. Most Mellon grants are made through these invitations. Occasionally, we issue open calls for proposals. Sign up for our emails to be notified when we issue an open call or share information about other funding opportunities.