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In the mid nineteenth century the Cherokee Nation was one of many Indian peoples fighting for their right to live peacefully on their ancestral homelands and attempting to negotiate with the fledgling United States. Known as one of The Five Civilised Tribes, their principal chief was John Ross, a mixed blood Cherokee descended from a Scottish father and grandfather. The Cherokee people had converted to Christianity, were settled planters and farmers, had their own system of writing, their own newspaper, their own constitutional government and had gone further than any other nation to adopt a European way of life. Despite this, in 1839, they were forcibly evicted from their land and sent on what became known as The Trail of Tears, a walk of 800 miles to the lands west of Mississippi river. On this journey a quarter of the tribe died. The Trail of Tears set the pattern for the future relationship between Native Americans and those who came to claim the title American. Brave uses live music, physical performance and documentary voices set within powerful visual installation to explore the Indians' Trail of Tears, and to follow that trail into the present day.

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Author: Gerry Mulgrew