My mother’s pain at the loss of her grandmother’s beloved butter churner has been in the narrative of our family my entire life. When I saw this little unadorned gem in the free box at Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center I grabbed it thinking of her and took it into the workshop where Sara Siestreem guided a small group through thoughts around indigenous gathering practices. This butter

churner heard our stories that day and was witness to us, survivors carrying a legacy of cultural genocide, enacting our sovereign right to gather traditional medicines. This was where the idea for Our Stories Are Mixed germinated.

At the opening of “In the Spirit” the community contributes to this piece by telling a story in it’s presence while holding loose beads, pouring them in and turning the handle to complete the piece that is Our Stories Are Mixed.