Water Acknowledgement, and Performance by The Wah.zha.zhe Puppet Theatre
Date: Sunday, July 16, 2023
Time: 10-11AM
Location: Sugarloaf Mound
Details:
Join us at Sugarloaf Mound for a closing event of Counterpublic 2023 featuring a performance by The Wah.zha.zhe Puppet Theatre, a water acknowledgement with artist Anita Fields, and a conversation between Dr. Andrea Hunter (Osage Nation) and Fields, sited at her WayBack installation adjacent to the mound.
The Wah.zha.zhe Puppet Theatre is the creation of artist, curator, writer and Anita Field’s daughter, Welana Fields, in collaboration with stage director Russell Tallchief, playwright Candice Byrd-Boney, puppet designer Christopher Lutter-Gardella of Big Animal Productions, sound designer Nokosee Fields, and the Osage community members who helped make the puppets and perform in the play. Conceptualized to celebrate the 150-year anniversary of the establishment of the Osage Reservation in Pawhuska, Oklahoma, Sky E.ko and Her Ni.ka.she (Sky Grandma and Her People) narrates Osage history from creation to the present through a suite of larger-than-life animals. A buffalo, swan, elk, wolf, and other animals unfold a different momentous event in Osage life along with the deep and complex cosmologies and worldviews are interwoven into these histories.
These closing events at Sugarloaf Mound underscore Counterpublic’s ongoing commitment with the Osage Nation to support the rematriation of the mound as a core component of the Counterpublic 2023 exhibition.
The closing performances are presented with support from the Tulsa Artist Fellowship and the Osage Nation Foundation.
