Water Talks

Fred Donath, Jr. Memorial Gallery

Water Talks features photographs of Indigenous communities in Standing Rock and the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve in Mexico affected by water access and sustainability issues. This exhibition’s title takes its name from a documentary by the same name produced by Dr. Tatiana Lobato de Magalhães of Universidad Autonóma de Querétaro and Dr. Marinus Otte, Fulbright Specialist and Professor at the Department of Biological Sciences at North Dakota State University. The film, which is shown alongside photographs, captures stories about water availability and access in Sierra Gorda.

In 2016, the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline gained international attention when it was met with resistance by many Native Nations and non-Native allies. Tyrel Iron Eyes, a photographer based on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, documented the community that emerged during the Dakota Access Pipeline protests. His visual narrative emphasizes the daily lives that were lived in the Oceti Sakowin Camps during the fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline construction that abuts sacred tribal lands and compromises a precious water resource.

The experiences shared by these different Indigenous communities raise awareness about the profound impacts of natural resource extraction and inspire dialogue about environmental justice and sovereignty. Water
Talks serves as a testament to resilience and resistance in the ongoing fight for water amid environmental degradation.

Plains Art Museum thanks our generous PlainsArt4All members, donors, and Organizational Partners for their support. Additional support provided by The McKnight Foundation; FM Area Foundation; The Arts Partnership with support from the cities of Fargo, Moorhead, and West Fargo; The FUNd at Plains Art Museum; and the North Dakota Council on the Arts, which receives funds from the North Dakota Legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional support provided by Art Bridges Foundation’s Access for All program. Plains Art Museum is supported in part by an American Rescue Plan Act grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to support general operating expenses in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tyrel Iron Eyes, North Side of Camp, 2016, Digital photograph, Courtesy of the artist

Native History, Language, and Art on the Northern Plains and Beyond: A Public Symposium
Saturday, September 21, 3-4:30 PM
Fargo Theatre, 314 Broadway, Downtown Fargo, Free

This panel is organized as part of the American Society for Ethnohistory Annual Conference hosted by North Dakota State University. Delia Touché, Curator of Indigenous Programming at Plains Art Museum, will moderate the panel, which includes artists and scholars featured in the Water Talks exhibition.