Maka Wicasa

About the Work

From the Artist

When tribes moved about the Earth they called themselves names which reminded them that they were "The People." Animals, plants, clouds were all relatives—nations unite themselves.

As modern "civilized" beings we have forgotten these times and these thoughts. The Earth, our grandmother, has become an "it" to be drained and ravaged for our own desire. Words like race, culture, and tribes separate us from each other and the Earth. 

Our survival is now in question and so the Earth asks us "Who are you?" It is my hope that we will remember we are Maka Wicasa—Earth people, the children of grandmother Earth.
_{—From Brandywine Workshop and Archives records}

Maka Wicasa, 1992 (figure 201), by Kaylynn Sullivan TwoTrees, is a color offset lithograph, collage, and construction in an edition of 75 made of a hand-dried pointer, feathers, and rawhide. These materials have religious significance in the religious practices of African Americans and Native Americans. The artist's work alludes to her Native American and African American ancestors. Earth people are referred to as "maka wicasa."
_{— Adapted from "Fresh, Human and Personal: Signature of Brandywine Workshop," Three Decades of American Printmaking: The Brandywine Workshop Collection (Manchester, VT: Hudson Hills Press, 2004)}