1036 Medary Avenue │ P.O. Box 2250, SDSU │ Brookings, SD 57007

605.688.5423 │ Toll Free 866.805.7590

www.southdaktoaartmuseum.com │ sdsu.sdam@sdstate.edu

Museum Hours:

Monday through Friday 10 am - 5 pm

Saturday 10 am - 4 pm

Sunday 12 noon - 4 pm

Closed Sundays January through March and all South Dakota State holidays,

Keith BraveHeart (Titonwan, Oglala Lakota, Oglala Sioux Tribe) Tasunka Unsikila, acrylic on canvas, 2016

Emil Her Many Horses (Titonwan; Oglala Lakota; Oglala Sioux Tribe), Tasunka Ota Win, Louboutin shoes, 16 size beads, 2016

The Lakota, Nakota, and Dakota people of the Seven Councils Fire (Očhéthi Šakówiŋ) refer to horses as the Šúŋka Wakȟáŋ Oyáte (Horse Nation). After their arrival on the Great Plains, horses transformed life for the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ. They revolutionized transportation and served as allies in hunting and in battle, but they were revered for more than their utility and recognized as relatives. As tribal culture and spiritual practices came under attack with forced assimilation policies, horses helped the people of the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ to defend their lands and to sustain some traditional ways of life. And while the people of the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ no longer rely on horses for survival, they are still considered a powerful source of strength and healing. Through the development and presentation of this exhibition we use the arts to explore the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ peoples’ culture and spirituality in relation to the Šúŋka Wakȟáŋ Oyáte (Horse Nation) through the eyes and voices of the Ikčé Oyáte (Common Nation). For nearly two years lead artist Keith BraveHeart and the Heritage Center staff traveled to many Očhéthi Šakówiŋ communities across three states listening to people’s stories about the power of horses in their lives. Working together, they gathered insights from hundreds of artists, elders, culture bearers, and other community members who are committed to representing their culture, relatives, homelands, and Oyáte by contributing to conversation and creative practice purely inspired by aesthetic, not commerce, in relation to and inspired by the great cultural and spiritual significance of The Horse Nation of the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ. By documenting

their conversations, the voices and perspectives of people from across the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ have informed the evolution of the exhibition. The artists have, in turn, drawn upon their own experiences together with the voices from the communities to influence the work that they created. Those voices have also influenced the selection of historical works that were included. That collective record has served as inspiration and guide for creating the exhibition that we now offer in humble respect for and on behalf of the Ikčé Oyáte (Common Nation) of the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ.

“The Horse Nation of the Ochéthi Šakówiŋ Exhibition, is much more than a presentation or display of the lives of a people. We are not only seen in historic perspective, although it is important to view our pasts. This is an honoring and celebrating of our relatives, the Horse Nation, but also of all our relatives of all nations. This is a continuum and not a project. The Horse Nation of the Ochéthi Šakówiŋ Exhibition is a practice of who we are.”

- Keith BraveHeart

Gwen Westerman (Sisseton/Wahpeton, Dakota, Lake Traverse Reservation), Return to Crow Creek, quilt, 2014

unknown artist (possibly Oglala Lakota), Child’s Chaps, cloth, synthetic leather, seed bead, metal, ca. 1950