Woven: The Art of Contemporary Native Basketry
Dawn Nichols Walden / Ojibway
I felt helpless and frustrated when our State sold our 1836 Treaty Lands to a foreign mining co. It was as if we as a people didn't exist and our Treaty's meant nothing. How could they sell something that wasn't theirs to sell? We are here. We are still a people. I belong to the Mackinac Band of Michigan Indians and I may have been colonized by society but my ancestors who signed these treaties and sacrificed so many rumbles in my veins at the State of Michigan's transgressions against this Treaty.
Included in these treaty lands is the Straits of Mackinac under which runs Enbridge's oil pipeline that was built to last 40 years and is now over 60 years old and has never been maintained. 1/5 of the world’s fresh water is at risk from an oil spill.
It was then that I sought the wisdom and guidance of my ancient Ojibway culture to use my art to bring an awareness of the unity we need as an Indian Peoples to protect all lands and water. It is our duty as Anishinabek to honor that promise my work is about Unity between all People and Indian Nations, joining hands to PROTECT THE LAND AND WATER.
-Dawn Nichols Walden
