Stories inspired by Cracking Art’s swallows in three indigenous languages.
OJIBWE
Boozhoo Valerie Clark indizhinikaaz, nindanishinaabemo - Hello, my name is Valerie Clark, I am going to speak in Ojibwe.
Zhaashaawanibiisiwag apane minikwewag ge-bimisewaad gaye dabasisewaad gwaabandamowaad nibi - Swallows always drink on their wing, flying low to sip the water.
Boozhoo - Miskwaadesikwe Anishinaabenikaaz. Valerie Clark indizhinikaaz, gakiiwe onaagaming indibendaagoz, ma’iingan indoodem, minawaakii indaa.
- Hello, my native name is painted turtle woman, my English name is Valerie Clark, I am from the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community Reservation. I am from the wolf clan and I live in Milwaukee. I work at Indian Community School as the Ojibwemowin language and culture teacher.
POTAWATOMI
Bosho, Mishen ndezhnekas mine ndenshnabém gé memdagé bodwéwadmimyan. - Hello, my name is Michael and I am speaking Neshnabé language also specifically Potawatomi.
Pi nwabmamen gi benéshiyek, nstetoyak mine nsedwabdemak shna ézh-zhewébek, nekmekok. - When we see those birds, we understand and recognize how things are, everywhere.
Michael Zimmerman Jr. is an enrolled member of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi and has spent the better part of the last 11 years teaching Ojibwe, Odawa, or Potawatomi languages in various places. He currently teaches Ojibwe at the Indian Community School and has been a consultant for several Potawatomi bands.
ONEIDA
Tehaliwakhasyus (Mark Powless) is Oneida and Wolf clan. He is active with language and culture revitalization and Longhouse ceremonies. In addition to supporting clinical efforts as a psychologist, he engages in multiple communities as a lifelong learner and cultural and language resource.
“Since its founding in 2019, Black Box Fund has highlighted artists who focus on our human connection to the earth and all her species. In honor of the peoples who lived along the shore of Lake Michigan before us, we share with you the land acknowledgement from the American Indian Studies program at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee:
We acknowledge in Milwaukee that we are on traditional Potawatomi, Ho-Chunk and Menominee homeland along the southwest shores of Michigami, North America’s largest system of freshwater lakes, where the Milwaukee, Menominee and Kinnickinnic rivers meet and the people of Wisconsin’s sovereign Anishinaabe, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Oneida and Mohican nations remain present. ”