By: Alyssa Hui (Reporter and Photojournalist)
A new exhibit called “Sharing Our Sacred Voice Through Our Art” is now open at the Overture Center. The Badger Report’s Alyssa Hui shares how this exhibit celebrates Ho-Chunk people and their culture.
For many of the creators, like Christopher Sweet, their art goes beyond just a picture on the wall. “It just really means something, you know, it’s like I have a connection with this,” he says.
For him, it is a connection that honors the history and the ways of Ho-Chunk people: “A lot of my paintings have to do with things like healing and unity, and family.”
These three things help showcase the beauty and perseverance of native Americans, Sweet says.
Those at the event see this as an opportunity to share their culture with others while also celebrating the current work of Ho-Chunk people. As Elena Terry, the Executive Chef and found of Wild Bearies puts it: “I’m always a part of including the greater community and what we do and sharing such a beautiful part of ourselves with the community. It’s just a wonderful feeling.”
Terry says it’s important to foster Ho-Chunk artwork and heritage in the Madison area:” This is our ancestral land. And I like to believe that, you know, whatever brought us to today is in the past, but how we build our communities together without discriminatory lines is what is going to define our future and our longevity here.”
If you want to learn more about Ho-Chunk art and culture, you can visit the exhibit at the Overture Center until January 5th, 2020.