In [a] letter to ElectroBras [Brazil’s state-owned electricity agency], the Kayapó state,
"We have decided that your word is worth nothing. The conversation is over. We, the Mebengôre Kayapó people have decided that we do not want a single penny of your dirty money. We do not accept Belo Monte or any other dam on the Xingu. Our river does not have a price, our fish that we eat does not have a price, and the happiness of our grandchildren does not have a price. We will never stop fighting: In Altamira, in Brasilia, or in the Supreme Court. The Xingu is our home and you are not welcome here."
"We have decided that your word is worth nothing. The conversation is over. We, the Mebengôre Kayapó people have decided that we do not want a single penny of your dirty money. We do not accept Belo Monte or any other dam on the Xingu. Our river does not have a price, our fish that we eat does not have a price, and the happiness of our grandchildren does not have a price. We will never stop fighting: In Altamira, in Brasilia, or in the Supreme Court. The Xingu is our home and you are not welcome here."
“The multiplicity of cultures strengthens the world and thus each individual culture becomes stronger. The diversity of cultures is also important in a therapeutic sense. People speak of primitive cultures; I believe that the lack of development or lack of development of a culture depends on the observer, and how values are assessed. Our arctic culture is important for the whole world, because it contains experiences within it that other cultures don’t have.”
The shore of the arctic sea unites us with the Bering Straights. A number of our words have met that territory as well. It would seem that we have been raising reindeer for a very long time. Together with lichen, they are the only energy medium between us and the sun. Once disturbed lichen needs 20 years to regrow. Our thousand year culture has left the tundra untouched and changed only us. We have only one tundra, we all have but one world. Perhaps we should be learning ecology from the shamanistic philosophy of life.”
-Saami writer, musician, artist Nils-Aslak Valkeapää
Imagining a gathering of cultural representatives, each awarded the same prestige and attention as our world leaders at a G7 summit. In full regalia with all modern layers whittled away so that each indigenous leader exposes hints of their venerable origins, undefiled by colonial influence. If at once, the most silenced voices, the most misinterpreted and marginalized voices, were given an international platform, how would the content of their discussions differ from our current leaders? It’s hypothetical, I know, but it is often those who have been kept silent for so long who hold the suppressed wisdom we so badly need.
Considering their approximate geographical whereabouts, the intention was to position various indigenous portraits on a map-like collage. Their unique facial characteristics were rendered through the use of researched symbols, motifs, patterns and designs pertaining to each culture. Whether taken from beadwork, weavings, tattoos, tapestries, carvings, sculptures, embroidery, pottery, masks or paintings, each portrait wears a collection of iconographic emblems from multiple relevant sources.
In place of North America, a Lakota elder is haloed by a hooded Inuk man from the far north. From the south, a brightly feathered Kayapó man peers up at the central character who appears to be deep in thought. Scattered between the two Americas are a handful of petroglyphs placed in their approximate geographic locations. The addition of the petroglyphs hints at the ancient existence deeply rooted in these characters. From the Great Bear Rainforest in British Columbia down to Brazil’s Xingu River Petroglyphs in Para State. The bouquet of portraits is cradled within a carved frame representing the four directions, the four winds and the four corners of the earth.
All the invisible spokes of gazing eyes represent the global attention which Standing Rock experienced during most of 2016 and the early months of 2017. Even though this piece was started long before the events of #NODAPL several of the cultures represented here have traveled all the way to South Dakota to voice their solidarity. The Saami, Scandinavia's nomadic reindeer people, who have also experienced massive land grabs due to deforestation, also traveled to Standing Rock. New Zealand’s fearless Maori people also made the voyage and demonstrated by performing the Haka dance.
When all these people from around the world began arriving at Standing Rock, the resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline grew far bigger than simply an oil pipeline protest. It was a significant and influential demonstration that resounded with many indigenous groups on a global scale. Every indigenous group has experienced some form of land rights abuses or corporate and political bullying in the past. The fight is a global effort.
For those whose traditions keep them dependent on and connected to the land, their ancient customs remain deeply rooted in honouring that land. Perhaps this is why indigenous people have earned their title as caretakers of the earth. Their ethics of responsibility and esteem for that which sustains them connects them to each other in a way that modern humanity remains disconnected. When their land is threatened, polluted, flooded or stolen, they are left with little choice but to defend it. It is all they have. Whether they are nomadic or sedentary, every people group deserves the right to preserve their own land.
I can recall attending the annual sing sing festival as a child. Like a gathering of birds of paradise, more than 100 tribes from Papua New Guinea’s highlands would be represented at the Goroka Show. Each group of dancer’s would be uniquely decorated in feathers, bones, clay, skins and painted bodies. The air would be thick with ritual, chanting, drum beats and strong smells as the colourful groups performed their traditional songs and dances. Some of the dances expressed fearsome displays of war-like intimidation to evoke fear in their enemies; jumping in rhythmic motion and gesturing thrusted spears from behind carved wooden shields. Crucial to PNG ceremony, some of the colourful headdresses would tower into the sky, alluding to totemic deities.
Australian patrol officers started the Goroka Show festival in 1957 as a way of preventing further tribal warfare and celebrating cultural awareness and diversity. When tradition and ritual are shared they are capable of stirring more curiosity than fear.
