The Long Way Home 2016

University of Illinois Urbana Champagne, Wassaja Hall

Dimensions: 3 vessels with heights of 8’, 12’, 14’

Materials: Cor-ten steel, stone and LED lights

Budget: $280,000

Fabricator: Vector Fabricating and Douglas & Co. Masonry

The unusual path of Wassaja’s life began when he was taken as a young child from his Yavapai Apache family in the Southwest in 1860. He was sold to an Italian photographer who raised him as a son. He entered UIUC when he was 14 years old and became a medical doctor, fighting for Native American rights. In his old age he returned to his people. “The Long Way Home,” tells this story with stone from the land of Wassaja’s birth and sculptures in the form of a Yavapai basket.