Studio:indigenous has designed Ukwé·tase (Stranger), a Chicago-based installation.

This piece is for the 2023 Chicago Architecture Biennial, CAB5: This is a Rehearsal.

This piece is an alternative land acknowledgement in that the designer, while Indigenous, is a stranger in the land now known as Chicago.

Ukwé·tase (Stranger) is intended to be a prompt for individuals to reflect on the Indigenous land they are on.

"The piece is a structure within a structure – like the designer is a citizen of a Nation within a Nation," said Studio:indigenous.

As a result, this project reinforces the notion that the designer is working on land that is not their own – we are all strangers somewhere.

This project has been longlisted in the installation design category of Dezeen Awards 2025.

Studio: Studio:indigenous
Project: Ukwé·tase (Stranger)