Four years shared with the people of the Nez Perce Tribe.
Invited to the Tamkaliks Powwow, then to their home on the reservation.
Taken in by family.
Reflections of where I was invited, a vision of responsibility.
Months spent together, led to the Sweatlodge. Gaining trust and understanding. The first to be invited in many years to document The People. Time needed to trust and understand me.
Shown ways of healing and health. Living with the Dreamers, taught an ancient way.
Taught to listen from within.
Follow the Great Spirit, fly on eagles’ wings.
Once a territory with no fences, a land with no borders, free to live on all the land.
Stories sharing times of hardships and enlightenment.
Stick games and dances. Taught to gather roots and berries. History lost and misunderstanding. Cutting their braids, told to choose a new name.
Camping under the stars.
Ancestors and elders, a child lights the new day.
Kaus kaus, sage and sweetgrass, tobacco used to bless the spirit.
Guided by a greater force, a new way to walk and breathe.
Walking with eyes of faith into the invisible.
A force of truth, all power and soul.
The seven drum, the four directions.
A traditional culture that has met a modern age. A century that has passed and a new world that rises.
The Great Spirit in motion, living full circle.
Shown roads hidden in sage.
I thank all of the people that have guided me through this journey and the spirit that lives within.
