By the Light of the Fireflies We See Tomorrow
48″ x 80″ x 2″, Oil on Linen, 2023

Indigenous artists are often asked how we hold our heritage. I am not sure you can hold a feeling that runs deep inside each of us, just as the sound of the drums feels like my heart beating; this resilience is as powerful as an underground water current that even the earth cannot hold back. Resilience, Resistance, Power. We are still here.

I look at the land and my children, indigenous children, and their connection to their Delaware culture and histories; they are the caregivers to both the land and the lives upon the land. It is filled with the magic of fireflies and starlight, each holding endless possibilities for tomorrow and remembrances of yesterday. My great great-grandfather was Jim Bobb (1849-ca.1925), an Oklahoma Delaware Chief. Elements of his bandolier bag are layered into the patterns of the children’s’ graphic t-shirts as a way of encoding their indigenous culture within the piece; the youth carry the future of our people.

 

Available

For inquiries, please contact:
The Studio
Mustang, OK 73064 | 405.308.0239

Exhibition History

• The Thread that Connects, Spiva Center for the Arts, Joplin Missouri (January 14 – March 4)