In Exit, Carlson lays bare the realities of the past—of cultural loss, change, destruction, removal, and erasure. Though the red Exit sign represents the fear of loss, Carlson includes references to two iconic works of ancient art—the mica hand/talon of the Mississippian peoples (in yellow and purple) and Mound Man, an earthen effigy figure in rural Wisconsin—as testaments to the creative genius of their makers. Mounds like these across the Upper Midwest have been sliced apart, destroyed by settlers, or hidden from view. Yet their presence, like Indigenous peoples themselves, has endured. Likewise, Carlson’s Exit honors enduring ancient Indigenous social and aesthetic systems.
