Tales of the Land Wall Installation June Sekiguchi

Tales of the Land: A Metaphorical Topography is a wall installation in the pre-security lobby. The artwork takes travelers across the state of Arkansas by following a stylized Arkansas River. The half cuboctahedron forms represent the Ozarks, Ouachita and Boston Mountains to the north and west of the state, shifting from the flat farmlands in south and east Arkansas and to the Mississippi River. Some of the paintings and intricately hand-cut sculptures illustrate natural elements from the Arkansas landscape. Others share imagery and patterns honoring the broad cultural heritage of the state.

• Painted West African Adinkra patterns representing the heritage of those historically residing in the Arkansas Delta region.

• A Marshallese weaving, representing the state’s newest immigrants from the Marshall Islands.

• A basket weave pattern, representing Arkansas’s strong craft traditions. 

• Fish scales, representing the state’s waterways and fishing as a past-time and natural resource.

• Interlocking Dogwood flowers, representing the beautiful and popular flowering tree.

• Abstracted tornadoes, representing the fierce weather patterns of the region.

• Symbology representing the Little Rock Nine, the first group of African Americans to desegregate public schools.

• Cicada wings and a sound wave pattern, representing summertime sounds and childhood memories of Arkansas summers.

• Traditional patterns drawn from three Indigenous cultures of the region: Osage, Caddo and Quapaw.

• A white rose and thorns, representing the Japanese American incarceration camps located in Arkansas during World War II.

Three cuboctahedron patterns on platform represent:

• A prolate spheroid pattern, representing the sport of football and Razorback fans

• A pattern made of the delicate needles of the Loblolly pine, Arkansas’s state tree.

• A pattern composed of diamond shapes, representing the state’s unique geology and natural diamond resources, especially Crater of Diamonds State Park, a popular destination.

Learn more about artist June Sekiguchi's vision for this artwork

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