Self-Decolonization: Winter of Our Internment

16" x 20"

Acrylic on canvas

2010

Winter of Our Internment depicts the prison camp on Pike Island - located at the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers in what is today known as the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. The families rounded up after the Dakota uprising of 1862 were forced to spend the winter within this open air prison. The loss of life from hunger and sickness was immense, and the survivors were exploited in every way. Any words I have for this atrocity seem incapable of describing the impacts for these ancestors and for all the generations to follow...

This work is a part of the "Self: Decolonization" series in which I reflect upon my true history, with the purpose of seeking justice for my ancestors, my elders, my generation, future generations and myself. I wanted to express this event in a significant way, so I chose to paint it as a Winter Count.

A Winter Count is a great buffalo hide that holds the history of the tribe. Each winter, the year's most significant, defining event is painted on the hide. After many years, the images wind in a spiral, filling the entire robe. The winter of 1863 deserves its own hide as a Winter Count, since for every year after, we have felt the effects of genocide and continued colonialism that can be traced to that winter.

Winter of Our Internment was auctioned to raise money for the Native Student Alliance powwow at Evergreen State College in May, 2012