18x24inch Acrylic on Canvas Feb 2020
I did this piece while still attending school and my art classes. I used to have to commute from the rez into the city, which I believed to be an easy transition, despite living on reserve my whole life. I was excited to meet new people and experience different things.
All until I realized my peers viewed not only me, but the rest of us indigenous kids, as if we came spitting out from the past. Red Indians who sprawled out of their tipi before mounting a horse to travel. I wanted to show the feeling of realizing you’re a minority not apart of the majority. Something I thought was hard to avoid when constantly questioned “what exactly are you?” It was very fun having to describe this art piece in detail, to my peers and teachers majority who are white, about what it represents/portrays.
The title itself is inspired by that scene in “Dances with Wolves” where the Lakota woman and child are in the stream. And the main white guy comes up to them which scares them. Running away in fear they yell “Wasicu! Wasicu!”