Truth, history and life in Blackfeet homelands – The Wilderness Society

Imagesby Micheli Oliver, words by Dr. Len Necefer, NativesOutdoors

Blackfeet homelands blend the prairie and the mountains together like two puzzle pieces that fit together perfectly, just as the Creator intended. From one side of the Blackfeet Reservation to the other, the dynamic landscape is captivating, full of stories, lively people, culture, history and all that we are.

The images captured here tell the story of joy, truth, history and life on our homelands. From bikes to laughter, fishing to landscape, the intention is to represent what can really only be felt. There is no time on this land, for simultaneously there is past, present and future. Therefore, these images show people moving forward in time, landscapes shaped by time and artifacts frozen in time. This is a representation of our belief that time is not linear, that we are in a circle, which reflects our ways as a culture. Everything is reciprocal, we eat the food of the land and give back to the land in any way we can. Our lives are inherently tied into the soil and sewn into the wind. As we breathe our presence strengthens the land and the land strengthens us. Even in times of hardship, oppression and cultural erasure, we look to the land to remind us of who we come from. Whispers in the wind from our ancestors whose blood isthe fire and the water of the land, whose words are the whispers in the wind whistling through our thick black and brown hair. In Blackfeet we say iksookapi, which means roughly be goodto move forward in health and happiness, to do good in this life.

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Truth, history and life in Blackfeet homelands - The Wilderness Society