Artist Reception for Wéčičaku! with Francis J Yellow

WÉČIČAKU!
I’M BRINGING SOMETHING BACK FOR SOMEONE!
By Wanbli Máyašleča / Francis J Yellow

On view January 23-26 during HOW THE WILD WEST WAS SPUN
Reception: January 23, 6 – 7pm

Hau,mitakuyepi!, Greetings my relatives! Thank you for your interest in my makings. It’s been a few years since I’ve exhibited or participated in the art world. I felt that I had to step away from the art world and tend to my long neglected wounds. Hence the Lakota title of my exhibit – Wečičaku.

But really it’s more about what I learned while I was away. For one thing, I learned to “embrace my pain”. In doing so I’ve located its source(s) and gotten to know them for myself. My ancestors’ Lifeway enabled me to undertake this harrowing journey which began in 2010. I called it a renewal back then, not knowing what it would take to accomplish such a thing.

In the course of my renewal as a human being/two-legged, I’ve come close to Death and what western philosophy calls the Underworld; I realize that I’ve been a frequent visitor throughout my life. But this time was different because my many wounds (compound/complex ptsd) were manifesting themselves in terminal illness.

The works presented here are an expression of an age-old, yet contemporaneous, kinship perspective and practice. It looks like art but it isn’t. What you’re viewing is Lifeway as lifeway practice. It is what my elders called, “Everyday ways of Peace.”