"untitled" is a developing written and film piece rooted in time spent at the Standing Rock Lakota Indian Reservation, where my grandmother was raised.
This story follows the historical and social context of all that has come before, as much as it is relevant and participant to this moment. I am exploring the interstice between this time, and that of my grandmother and her mother, and my great great grandmother, whose name I was given.
Every summer of my childhood was spent at my grandparent’s acreage in North Dakota. Our relatives would come by and visit, and we called them “The Laughing Cousins.” There was always a pot of coffee on, and the stories stretched late into the night. One of these summers, my grandmother called everyone in the family together for a Naming Ceremony. I was about six then, and I remember that something overtook me. I cried and cried, and nothing could stop my tears.
That was the day Oopon Iske Win, Elk Tooth Woman, my grandmother, gave me my name. She named me Kaka Boka Win, Whirlwind Woman, after my great great grandmother.
This name tells me who I am in the story of my life.
As a communtiy member I transmit information and introduce my perceptions by creating Art. I am looking to the past because it has answers for our future. I am adding my voice to the truth that we all have greatness within ourselves.
I always knew I would someday re-trace the steps of my grandmother’s life on the Reservation. Similarly, I knew that part of my life story would take place in New York. I moved to Brooklyn with a backpack and five hundred dollars. I spent six years fulfilling that vision, and it is now that I find myself at my ancestor's homeland, the Dakotas.
contact: [email protected]
This story follows the historical and social context of all that has come before, as much as it is relevant and participant to this moment. I am exploring the interstice between this time, and that of my grandmother and her mother, and my great great grandmother, whose name I was given.
Every summer of my childhood was spent at my grandparent’s acreage in North Dakota. Our relatives would come by and visit, and we called them “The Laughing Cousins.” There was always a pot of coffee on, and the stories stretched late into the night. One of these summers, my grandmother called everyone in the family together for a Naming Ceremony. I was about six then, and I remember that something overtook me. I cried and cried, and nothing could stop my tears.
That was the day Oopon Iske Win, Elk Tooth Woman, my grandmother, gave me my name. She named me Kaka Boka Win, Whirlwind Woman, after my great great grandmother.
This name tells me who I am in the story of my life.
As a communtiy member I transmit information and introduce my perceptions by creating Art. I am looking to the past because it has answers for our future. I am adding my voice to the truth that we all have greatness within ourselves.
I always knew I would someday re-trace the steps of my grandmother’s life on the Reservation. Similarly, I knew that part of my life story would take place in New York. I moved to Brooklyn with a backpack and five hundred dollars. I spent six years fulfilling that vision, and it is now that I find myself at my ancestor's homeland, the Dakotas.
contact: [email protected]