Simon Pokagon (c. 1830–January 28, 1899) was a member of the  Pokagon Band of Potawatomi, a prolific author, and advocate for his  people. Upon seeing the violent transformation of Chicago from  the tipis and wigwams of his childhood to brick buildings, Pokagon  observed that the survival of Native people in Chicago was  linked to a tipi always having a place in the city. Andrea Carlson’s  ‘For Simon’ is Pokagon’s medicine, but it is displayed as inaccessible.  It is something viewers may see and envision, but can’t fully access.  Such a relationship to the tipi mirrors the perpetual envisioning  process inherent to future-planning and decolonization work that is  often isolated by institutional structures. 

With support from John Low.