Wíhaŋyablapi (of St. Louis)
2026 On view
Artist Kite
DetailsTextile, video, mixed media, dreams
Curator Stefanie Hessler
Address
101 Chouteau Ave
St. Louis, MO
Site Description
Accessibility: Free parking is available in a gravel parking lot north of the warehouse and along Chouteau Avenue. This warehouse has been temporarily modified to be ADA accessible for the exhibition. There are outdoor ADA-accessible restrooms and ramps into the exhibition space. The interior floors are concrete and may be uneven in some areas. The silo is not ADA accessible.
Artwork Details
About the Artwork
Kite is an Oglála Lakȟóta artist, composer, performer, and scholar whose practice spans composition, wearable items, machine learning, and sculpture. Wíhaŋyablapi (of St. Louis) is a textile work a score arranged according to Lakȟóta geometric symbols. This artwork was developed through an intensive dream workshop led by Kite in St. Louis. Participants’ dreams were translated and arranged into Lakȟóta geometric symbols that reference the infinitely repeating patterns of Lakȟóta cosmology. Symbols include nonhuman beings, such as earth, lightning, and thunder, signaling forces more powerful than humans. Patterns in the work draw from a visual language adapted from Lakȟóta quillwork and beadwork held in St. Louis collections. The mixed-media installation and related printed broadsheet serves as a graphic score for musicians, open to improvisational activation and interpretation. A sculpture of the work is located in Tower Grove Park. A sculpture of the work is located in Tower Grove Park.
Courtesy of Bockley Gallery.
Kite’s commission is made possible with the support of the Walker Youngbird Foundation and The Hearthland Foundation.
