​The familiar aroma of warm fluffy frybread beckons friends and relatives to the feast. Guests gather to behold the clan names bestowed on babies and little children, to hear the announcements of marriages, graduations, birthdays, a soldier's return, or to share the last meal of a departed loved one who is making their final journey home.

We come to the table, cedar smoke clinging to our hearts, to share the joys and sorrows of life and in doing so we uplift and comfort one another. The table becomes a refuge where we are nourished, restored, and connected to our culture.

The shadow and light put us in the midst of nature and the unknown. We remember where we come from, and, like our ancestors before us, the simple act of sharing ritual food sustains us for another day.

The dishes in this installation were created by press molding my Grandmother’s feast dishes. Before paper plates, it was common for Osage women to own hundreds of dishes to put on a feast. The napkins have traditional Osage designs and patterns on them created by an image transfer process. The frybread in the center of the table was made by making real frybread and dipping it in polyurethane.

Mixed Media Installation 2001

A contemporary Osage wedding coat is paired with deconstructed images of historical documents written by U.S. government agents, traders, and journalists. The records are reconfigured to reflect the Osage orthography and other symbolic patterns. These documents, meant to define us were dehumanizing and integral to the systematic intentions of erasure. The wedding coat celebrates a continuum of culture. It reminds us the Osage have always defined themselves through the beauty of their own language and beliefs.

ReCall/Respond exhibit Gilcrease Museum. Tulsa, OK 2019