who stole the teepee?

October 1, 2000–January 21, 2001

New York, NY

During the past 100 years, missionaries, soldiers, teachers, government officials, and social reformers stripped Native peoples of much of the lifeways their ancestors had cultivated for thousands of years. Did they steal the tee pee? Or did they create a situation in which some Indians were more than willing to give it up? A collaboration with Atlatl, Inc., a non-profit arts organization based in Phoenix, Arizona, this exhibition features the works of thirty-five contemporary Native artists examining the impact of those changes—social, political, cultural, and personal. The artists look back in order to understand what their ancestors experienced during the period of forced assimilation, boarding school education, and relocation to distant cities.