We Are All Related - At the Ballweg Gallery in May 2024

Artist Statement

Mitákuye Oyás’iŋ is Lakota for “We are all related.” This refers not only to people but also to animals, plants, the Earth, the sky — everything living and nonliving. All that exists is made up of what Carl Sagan called “star stuff,” the elements that were created in the hearts of ancient stars that grew old, died and went supernova, spreading their star stuff throughout the universe.

Our kinship is also expressed by more abstract connections like shared culture. Although the world has multitudes of different lifeways, there are many shared experiences that can help us feel like part of the bigger whole: visions of beauty, witnessing the turning seasons or perhaps a moment of affinity with a wild animal or a nighttime sky.

We’re always in the presence of relatives regardless of the form they take. Mitákuye Oyás’iŋ.

A reception will be held during Gallery Night, May 3, from 6-8 p.m. in Goodman’s Ironworks.

For more information, visit creativevixendesign.com/we-are-all-related.