Indigenous Influences

Lorraine Besito is the artist that made this box. She lived on the Parry Island Reserve and learned quill work from her mother. She also passed down the skill to her own daughter, as well (“Porcupine Quillwork and Hair”). After the removal of Indigenous people by the United States government, many people from the Odawa regions of Michigan fled to regions like Parry Island and Manitoulin Island in Canada where they could be near people from tribes like theirs but still be safe from United State government interference (Howard). In a pamphlet describing the history of the island, it is discussed how the different tribes impacted each other in new cultural ways, and it said how they were “speaking the Ojibwe language with a few words of Ottawa thrown in” (Ojibwe Cultural Foundation). The inspiration for the creation of this quill box may have been influenced by multiple different tribes, their histories, their personal experiences with quill boxes, and their relationships with different elements of nature, like the Baltimore Oriole depicted on this box. Although different Indigenous tribes are distinct and unique from each other in many aspects, especially when it comes to traditional skills like quillwork, the area that Lorraine Besito lived in historically experienced a mix of many different Indigenous cultures which may have influenced her creating this quill box.