Native American: Bde Maka Ska - History & Art w/ Angela Two Stars (Southwest)

Angela Two Stars is a public artist and curator. She is the director of All My Relations Arts, a project of the Native American Community Development Institute in Minneapolis, MN. Angela is an enrolled member of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate and received her BFA from Kendall College of Art and Design. Angela's professional arts career began at All My Relations Arts gallery as an exhibiting artist, which then led to further opportunities including her first curatorial role for the exhibition titled, Bring Her Home, Stolen Daughters of Turtle Island, a powerful exhibition highlighting the ongoing epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women. Angela's public art graces the shores of Bde Maka Ska and honors the Dakota people of Mni Sota. Angela was recently selected as the finalist for the Walker Art Center's Indigenous Public Art Commission which will be installed in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden in the fall of 2020.

My most recent work explores the native language of my tribe, the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate. Currently, there are less than 70 fluent Dakota speakers of my tribe and the average age of these treasured elder speakers is 78-years old. My desire is to raise awareness of the endangered status of my tribe’s language, which in turn resonates with other Native American languages. By incorporating the Dakota alphabet, words, phrases, songs, prayers, and stories within my artwork, I am bringing attention to the need for revitalization efforts within my tribe to retain the existence of our Dakota language.