For Carson Waterman, Will Sampson Jr. with Woodland Beadwork embodies his Seneca history. It also speaks to the  atrocities that the Seneca’s Nation and other indigenous peoples have experienced from European occupation of North America over six centuries. 

The vignette of a forest, wampum belt, and birchbark canoe “speak to back before things changed—before Columbus and   Europeans occupied our lands and our territory was reduced,”  Waterman says. The abstracted background reflects his concerns for unresolved environmental challenges. 

The profile portrait is that of Will Sampson, Jr. (1933-1987), Muscogee Nation (Creek), acclaimed actor appearing in films such as One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Outlaw Josey Wales,  and Poltergeist II.