***Formative Witches Collection***

The Formative Witches Collection is a series of pieces dedicated to women songwriters that have impacted my life from childhood to present day. I wanted to honor how these women have helped me become stronger, less fearful, and more willing to take up space with my body and voice through their music and storytelling.

The first piece in this collection is dedicated to Buffy Sainte-Marie, an Indigenous Canadian American singer-songwriter, Oscar-winning composer, visual artist, educator and activist. Her song Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee was the first song I ever heard that caused me pain as a kid. Hearing her sing about the atrocities done to her people in the name of white capitalism and the continued bullshit they are still being impacted by left a mark in my 9 year old brain. She has dedicated her entire life to calling out institutionalized racism in the form of revealing hidden histories/truths in the decades before that was seen as mainstream cool. Marked as an enemy of the state, she fearlessly moved forward with her activism and teaching. She continues to inspire and create to this day, a lifetime of achievement for reclaiming that which was pillaged and burned from Native Peoples across North America.

This wall hanging is a re-imagined version of the album cover for Buffy’s 1969 album, Illuminations. As a member of the Cree First Nation, I added traditional Cree face painting, added actual jewelry Buffy has worn in concert, and bluebird feather earrings. There are 3 dimensional coyote toe bones to represent the generations of murdered Native People Buffy fights for, as well as a Medicine Wheel sticker and Land Back Earrings—both by Cree artist Heather Stewart. Lightening shoots from her fingertips, as her power and impact burns an afterimage in hearts and minds.

I thank Buffy for how she has impacted me personally and hope this piece does her justice.