WRE News: The Urgency Behind Nicholas Galanin’s Thought-Provoking “Seltega”

Miami Beach, FL – December 12, 2024 – Nicholas Galanin’s Seletega, a 40-foot-tall sculpture resembling the masts and sails of a wrecked Spanish galleon, rose from Faena Beach as a haunting reminder of colonial conquests and their enduring impact over this year’s Art Basel Miami Beach.

Created by the Tlingit/Unangax artist and commissioned by Faena Art, the work symbolizes the fragility of empire, with its buried hull suggesting failed conquest. The sails bear questions in English and Spanish, asking visitors what they would sacrifice to dismantle systems of power and what they could build for collective liberation.

“What are we going to give up to burn the sails of empire? What are we going to build for our collective liberation?” — to which Native American artist Jaque Fragua later replied in bold, red spray paint over the sails, “LAND BACK.”

Galanin’s use of the nearly lost language of the Calusa people—the title of the piece meaning “run, see if people are coming”—underscores the erasure of Indigenous cultures and languages by colonial forces.
The partially submerged shipwreck also references Hernán Cortés, whose destruction of his own fleet during the conquest of Mexico symbolized no retreat, paralleling today’s environmental and societal crises caused by extractive systems.

Through the installation, Galanin connected past colonial exploitation to present struggles for justice, urging viewers to envision alternative futures rooted in liberation and sustainability. Temporary — like the empires it critiques — the piece called for enduring action beyond these shores.

Written By: Raquel Martinez