ARTWORK > Secret Codewords of the NSA

Woodblock print by Annie Bissett depicting an indian blanket pattern in black and red
PENDLETON
Japanese woodblock (mokuhanga)
6" x 6" (15.24 x 15.24 cm)

P is for pendleton, a clandestine, highly classified decryption program that reportedly makes vast amounts of encrypted Internet data, which have up till now been discarded, newly exploitable.

Pendleton is also the name of a textile company in Portland, Oregon. In the late 1800s, the Pendleton mill made geometric patterned blankets for Native Americans in the area—the Umatilla, Cayuse and Walla Walla tribes—and later for the Navajo, Hopi, and Zuni peoples of the American Southwest. What do Pendleton Indian blankets have to do with encryption and decryption? Nothing, except for their association with the Navajo people, who among many other things are famous for their role during WWII as code talkers, who had a large role in the Allied success in the Pacific by creating a code from their own language that the enemy was unable to decrypt .

4 applications of color, with blind emboss
Kochi Kozo paper
edition: 20