Provenance:   

Private collection, New Mexico  

 

He is They Are is one of the most important monumental sculptural works in Glenna Goodacre’s long and legendary career. Of creating the work, she wrote:  

 

“in 1977, I sculpted a 36” figure of a lone Indian man. From a kind of vision I had, I called it “Banished From His Land.” I felt that Native Americans, particularly the Plains Indians, were driven from their ancestral territories and placed on reservations, thus ‘tying their hands.’ They were left helpless to lead any kind of life as they knew it, joined to the land. I always wanted to make a great heroic sculpture of this, and finally, in the spring of 1991, I found time to complete the 10-foot original. While struggling with the massive clay I dreamt that the name of this piece was ‘He is They Are.’ This name was repeated again and again in my dream and I awoke saying it to myself trying to figure it out. Not usually being one to remember my dreams, I felt this was significant and the meaning would come eventually. The funny thing about this work is that it is created from two of my models I put together: Jesus had a wonderful head but was too thin for the figure I’d envisioned, but Pat had the defined beefy body I was looking for. The piece from the front looks like a Native American in a brooding meditation until one goes around to the back and there’s the startling revelation that his hands are bound! I like creating some element in my sculpture that leaves the viewer wondering—something to ponder and contemplate.”