The title of this piece comes from a song shared with the artist by Karuk medicine woman Elizabeth Case. "I had asked her if there was another way to say money other than 'ishpuk' (dentilium). She said 'Vaka chik chik,' but no one ever used it to describe the kind of money that we know. The first verse of the song would translate, 'big, big, something down by the river's edge that you didn't know.' To me this meant gold. What we didn't know was that this was going to change our lives forever! Among the tribes of northern California, the elkhorn purse is used to carry the traditional form of currency, dentilium shells, which had been traded down from the area now known as Vancouver. The elkhorn would be carved with a design by a skilled craftsman. Occasionally, dentilium shells would also be carved and decorated with money-snake designs. The round shells are clam-shell discs, another form of money which was traded from the coastal Pomo Indians. The red beads represent trade beads, which were the first non-traditional form of currency. I wanted to create an image that contrasted with the western image of currency, money that is not backed by gold. And I chose to place these traditional forms of money in an open-sky background, because for those of us that believe in our traditions, their value is beyond anything in this world." Alme Allen (Karuk/Yurok)
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