Seattle: Hidden Histories

A series of one-minute interview-based spots Martha Rosler made with the American Indian community during her residence in Seattle from 1991 to 1995. Rosler reveals lost languages, unrecognized tribes, and the experiences of contemporary Native Americans living not on reservations but in the city.

"Rosler shows that cultural history can emerge through a single letter as in her videotape project Seattle: Hidden Histories. In the first of the series of short 'public service announcements,' the corruption of the indigenous name 'Seah,' pronounced approximately, 'si'ash,' into 'Seattle' reveals the corrupt underside of America's (colonial) history."

--Silvia Eiblmayr, “Martha Rosler's Characters,” Martha Rosler: Positions in the Life World, ed. Catherine de Zegher (Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 1998)