The two images used to compose the cover are Dance to the Berdashe by George Catlin and Honour Dance by Kent Monkman. George Catlin was a pseudo-ethnographer who traveled Indian Country in the 1830's painting Plains Indians, with the goal of documenting them before they became extinct. His paintings are often cited as documentation of the lifestyles and clothing customs of Plains Peoples during this time, without the context that he felt little more than disdain for the people he depicted. This particular painting depicts an annual Sac and Fox event which celebrated a member of the community bearing a third gender. Upon painting, Catlin wrote that the scene was “unaccountable and disgusting" and that he “wish[ed] that it might be extinguished before it be more fully recorded.” Almost two hundred years later, Cree painter Kent Monkman took the image Catlin depicted and appropriated it to remove the connotation of disgust from the image, bringing nuance and humanity to the Indigenous People depicted in the work. 

this is my spread depicting lust. I found it personally imperative to neutralize the "sins" that I was investigating, with an understanding of how these conceptions of "ill behavior" have impacted indigenous peoples. with lust, the resulting collage emphasizes the naturally imperceptible factors that contribute to the desire to meet the physical form from another. additionally, a large characteristic is the color red. this is a reference to the Missing/Murdered Indigenous Peoples epidemic. Native American women are the most likely demographic to be victims of violet crimes, especially kidnapping and murder, in the United States. the color chosen by activists working against the epidemic is red, to symbolize the blood of our lost loved ones. i paired this reference with gathered matter in the imagery in order to convey the complexity of "lust" in real Native Women's lives. . 

this spread depicts greed. because the greedy Indian stereotype is so common in our society, especially in reference to gambling and casinos, i wanted to depict a normal, working class Indigenous Person playing the slots, to emphasize the normalcy of modern Native life that settlers without Native friends don't get to see. how is there sin in an extremely subjugated people simply trying to get by? 

this is my pride spread. due to the fact that practicing our culture was outlawed for almost one hundred years as we were deemed too prideful of our traditions, I wanted to simply show off some of my regalia. no matter how hard settlers have tried to get rid of us, we are still here. for this reason I am so proud of my regalia, and know that there cannot possibly be sin in the simple feeling of pride for my culture.