18x24inch Acrylic on Canvas Dec 2019
“Pahin Mitawa Tewakhinda” roughly translates into “I cherish/Am proud of my hair”
To understand this work fully I need to explain what our hair means to us Dakota people. Especially as a Dakota woman we pride ourselves on our hair. In our ways we believe our hair to be attached/be an extension of our spirit, our soul, it’s considered more than just sacred.
I didn’t fully understand until I got older and started to grow my hair out. My great grandmother, my Kunshi, took notice and always wanted to see it. She’d make me twirl or sit beside her so she could touch it. To this day she still does this and I’m more than happy to just be with her.
Eventually she explained to me what happened to her as a girl. As a young girl her and the rest of the woman kept their hair long and groomed. My kunshi’s hair reached down to her ankles. She was very prideful of it and took great care of her hair.
All until she was taken to residential school by force. When she arrived the nuns made all the kids including her, wash their hair with coal oil, before they braided their hair to cut it above by their ears. To this day my kunshi doesn’t know what happened to her hair. And she never grew it back again.
I consider my hair not only to be mine but my kunshi’s as well. The hair she never got to keep. It gives me strength when I feel the weight of my hair on my back. I’m grateful and privileged to even be able to live freely without the fear she faced. This piece is meant to be a homage to my Kunshi’s sacrifice and teachings she gave me.