And Now We Know: Indigenous Artists Write the World
Yəhaw̓ Indigenous Project
South Puget Sound Community College Gallery
Olympia, WA
February 7 - March 8, 2119
Curators: Tracy Rector (Choctaw / Seminole), Asia Tail (Cherokee Nation), and Satpreet Kahlon
Photo by Shann Thomas
And Now We Know: Indigenous Artists Write the World is an exhibition curated by the Yəhaw̓ Indigenous Project.
The exhibition features Indigenous artists of the Pacific Northwest working across media at the intersection of literary and visual arts.
Language plays a prominent role in the Lifting the Sky story, as told by Upper Skagit elder Vi Hilbert. She speaks of a time when Indigenous people from diverse communities gathered because the sky was too low. Although they spoke different languages, by creating just one word with shared meaning - yəhaw̓, which means to do the work - together they were able to raise the sky, creating a better world for themselves and each other. Vi Hilbert ends her telling with the phrase “and now we know”, teaching us not only how the world came to be, but our role in its transformation, and that through ingenuity and creativity we shape our collective futures.
Photo by Shann Thomas
Photos by Shann Thomas