What I think is so phenomenal about The Horse is at the time it was introduced to our nations, it changed our way of life.

A compelling exhibition at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts pays homage to an animal for its importance in everyday life.

The horse it is revered as a relative and honored member of the growing community.

It, like strengthened us as people.

It became not only an ally but a close and trusted friend.

It enabled women to move much more objects, right?

Because before they were either doing it themselves or they had dogs hooked up to a Troy, but all of a sudden they had all of this power of the horse.

Our warriors were suddenly able to hunt much more efficiently because they could easily go into the buffalo herds and cut through them with their horses.

It really changed how they were living, hunting, moving all of those things as we were forced into these reservation situations.

They also helped us to maintain connections to past life ways.

What we envisioned is showing the range of materials, the range of art forms that are a part of Horse Nation and the traditional way.

And this was the vision and execution of the formidable Keith Braveheart, who was Lakota.

And he wanted to celebrate the horse for for the ultimate away.

The Minneapolis Institute of Arts is the last stop of a nationwide tour for the exhibit, which took two years of planning by Keith and one year by staff at the Institute.

It was his intention to have the final exhibition space in the Dakota Land, which is the the original land of all people if they were going.

We have partnered with all my Relations Gallery and Two Rivers Gallery.

There are over 150 objects, 20 or 21 of which you see here, and other objects are at all my relations and at Two Rivers.

I was part of a lot of the early meetings, and although just selected the artwork, then we kind of usually collaborate on how we think it's going to look once it's installed.

And we work really closely with our design team.

So our designers name is Bill Shoji and we work with him.

Jill and I felt really strongly that we wanted to have the four masks facing the four directions, and we took that idea to Bill.

So he presented us with some ideas of like mounting them on poles, and they would always be in the circle like you see them now.

We quickly realized that that wasn't going to work because of the nature of the mounts that are underneath the masks.

He came up with the idea to make it a little bit taller, so that the masks would actually be the level of what, a horse, you know, if we were seeing a mask on a horse.

The 20 exhibition pieces are breathtaking and are a mix of contemporary beadwork, textile art, paintings, prints and photography.

I think my favorite work is the work that has been made most recently.

It was made in two weeks.

It was made by, a Dakota sisters, two Dakota sisters from Lower Sioux, the O'Keeffe sisters.

And it is this beautiful horse mask that has it that is on buckskin, has beautiful eagle feathers, just very elegant designs.

It is to commemorate the 38 plus two.

One thing about this exhibition that I think is really special is Keith.

Braveheart tried to work with people at all levels within their artistic practice.

And so, although all of them are united by the theme of a relationship to Horse Nation, they are also united in that.

It's a representation of our community, not the representation of one famous artist or one really trying to elevate the community.

And so I that's something that I really appreciate about this show.

There are a lot of pieces that I like in this show, but I am personally the most moved by the Buffalo horse mask.

I just love to see the buffalo on that.

And just the thought of, you know, all of the nurturing that the buffalo gave to our people.

And then combining that with all of the fine qualities of the horse.

And just to know that the horses are embodied with that spirit of the buffalo, I think feels alive to me.

What we hope our visitors will enjoy and see is this range of art that is a part of our Shakopee, and to see the the connection, the deep connection of the horse with Lakota, Dakota and Nakota people and to appreciate the many art forms that are in contemporary life today.

It's a great honor for me personally to have Arthur Amit's work in this show.

He is somebody that I've admired for a long time, and to see his work, coupled with the modern work of Anita Growing Thunder and her family, who is also somebody that's a big idol of mine, I don't know.

That's something that really speaks to me by having this show at Mia and at All my relations and at Two Rivers Gallery.

It's breaking down barriers.