Rohsennase is Kanienkehaka, Bear Clan from Akwesasne, a Haudenesaunee community that straddles the Canada-U.S. border and sits along the St. Lawrence River about 120 kilometres west of Montreal.
An artist from Akwesasne was recently commissioned to create a project featuring contemporary and traditional wampum belts for the Genesee Country Village and Museum in Mumford, N.Y.Rohsennase, shown holding a wampum belt, was recently commissioned to do a project for the Genesee Country Village and Museum in Mumford, N.Y. An Akwesasne artist making contemporary wampum belts says he thinks of strands of purple and white wampum beads as Morse code.
Rohsennase has been commissioned for a project called Ahsén:na Kawén:na Orén:na , by the Genesee Country Village and Museum in Mumford, N.Y., about 100 kilometres east of Buffalo, supported by the New York State Council on the Arts. or wampum belts, which Rohsennase said are meant to be handled and investigated as living documents because they contain the most precious words, values and experiences of Haudenosaunee people.That's what he appreciates about their designs."Our most powerful designs are just so simple on one look but then on another look, they're really, really complex."