WHAM!s 4th exhibit by select artist Samarra Khaja focuses on the remembrance of the first stewards of this land. The Wappinger people knew the area well; filled with snake swamps and wolf woodlands, it was Bad Waters before it was Woodside and it was theirs. 1655, a year ripe with theft of theft of theft: it was her land and he took it; the nonnative orchard fruit grew and she took it. The circumstantial details as murky as the water, that bitten peach was met withmurder. While the Dutch flag flew high, pip-headed Van Dyck shot her dead and that spilt blood began The Peach War.Forget his name entirely, instead say HERS: Tachiniki!

The two textile wall-hangings exhibited depict elements of what history has left for us to piece together, much like fabric itself. Using an interplay of textures and tones, dimensional elements and lettering, the assembled fabrics offer a sort of call and response in banner form, representing “both sides” while clearly standing with only one.

“Bad Waters” is made in honor of Tachiniki and all the women since who've called Woodside home.

This place-based project is the sixth New York-specific piece by Samarra Khaja, the second NYC-specific, and the first Woodside-specific. Khaja works cross discipline, intertwining brightly-colored whimsical imagery of the seemingly usual with foundational layers of the unexpected. She chooses projects that feel purposeful and much of her current practice focuses on giving space to inclusivity, celebrating less-often-heard voices within identity and sharing historical and educational notes whenever possible.