Responsibilities and Obligations: Understanding Mitákuye Oyásʼiŋ
Curated by Clementine Bordeaux, Mary V. Bordeaux, and Layli Long Soldier

Exhibited at Racing Magpie 2017-2018,

Public Functionary October 2018
Featured in Minneapolis Star Tribune’s 2018 “Twin Cities' 10 biggest art events of fall”,

the 2018 BushCONNECT event in Minneapolis, MN,

All My Relations Gallery December 2018-January 2019,

the Plains Art Museum in Fargo, North Dakota February-August 2020,

Contemporary Art Center, New Orleans,
with guest artist Mikayla Patton (Oglala Lakota)
from October 21, 2022 - February 26, 2023,

Final exhibition at the new Racing Magpie gallery 2023-January 2024

**Layli Long Soldier’s piece Obligations was purchased by the Oyate Health Center and will be displayed as part of their permanent collection.

Overview

Mitákuye Oyásʼiŋ is a phrase in the Lakȟóta language and culture that loosely translates to “we are all related” or “all my relatives.” It is used by Lakȟóta and non-Lakȟóta alike. The phrase has been appropriated as an all-encompassing idea of inclusiveness. This exhibition is a reflective journey highlighting Lakȟóta female perspectives surrounding this idea and concept of Mitákuye Oyásʼiŋ. The project aims to engage Lakȟóta artists, scholars and general audiences to reflect on the (mis)appropriation of this phrase through mixed and multimedia installations. The exhibition provides an opportunity to share the Lakota language and build understanding within the Thítȟuŋwaŋ communities of the region as well as Native and non-Native populations through the arts and culture.

Special acknowledgement and gratitude for the audio/video interview participants: 

Jace DeCory - Mniconjou Lakȟóta

Dusty L. Nelson - Oglála Lakȟóta

Agnes Picotte - Iháŋktȟúŋwaŋ/Oglála

Mabel Picotte - Oglála Lakȟóta

Vi Waln - Sičháŋǧu Lakȟóta

Autumn White Eyes (spoken word) - Oglála Lakȟóta

Curator Biographies

Clementine Bordeaux is an enrolled member of the Sicangu Lakota Oyate and was raised on the Pine Ridge Reservation. From 2011-2017 she worked as the Academic Coordinator for the American Indian Studies Interdepartmental program at the University of California, Los Angeles, and will begin a PhD program in Culture and Performance at UCLA in the fall of 2017. Before moving to Los Angeles, Clementine earned her graduate degree from the University of Washington, Seattle, through the Native Voices Indigenous documentary film program.

Mary V. Bordeaux (Sicangu/Oglala Lakota) is the co-founder and owner of Racing Magpie, a collaborative space with a Native art gallery and artist studios. She received her BA from the Institute of American Indian Arts and MFA from the University of the Arts both in museum studies with an emphasis on exhibition design and planning. Bordeaux is currently working on her educational doctorate at Saint Mary’s University, researching Lakota epistemology.  She has held curatorial positions with The Heritage Center at Red Cloud Indian School and The Indian Museum of North America at Crazy Horse Memorial.

Layli Long Soldier earned a BFA from the Institute of American Indian Arts and an MFA from Bard College. She is the author of the chapbook Chromosomory (2010) and WHEREAS (2017). She has been a contributing editor to Drunken Boat; in 2012, her participatory installation, Whereas We Respond, was featured on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Whereas received the prestigious PEN/Jean Stein Book Award in 2018. In 2015, Long Soldier was awarded a National Artist Fellowship from the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation and a Lannan Literary Fellowship for Poetry. She is also a recipient of a 2016 Whiting Award. A citizen of the Oglala Lakota Nation, Long Soldier lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with her daughter.