Paradise Lost

This piece was inspired by the church's partnership with the US government in the cultural genocide of Native Americans. The "boarding school" program, which lasted for 150 years, was a brutal and deadly system through which children were forcibly separated from their families. It was part of a federal policy to eradicate Native communities' identity and take indigenous lands. I imagined a heartbroken, historical Jesus peering into the church through an old window in the majestic, stained-glass façade. His tears drip through and down the glass, where they puddle as he weeps at the horrors executed in his name.